Brazil awoke yesterday to city centres still smouldering after a night that shocked the nation: one million protesters took to the streets in scores of cities, with clusters clashing violently with police during anti-government demonstrations.

President Dilma Rousseff, a stand-offish leader who has been virtually mute in the face of the most violent protests in recent memory, called a meeting with top Cabinet members. She faced sharp criticism in Brazil’s media for what many called her lack of any leadership.

Meanwhile there were growing calls on social media and in e-mails for a general strike next week.

Standing before the battered government building he presides over, Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said he “was very angry” that protesters attacked a structure “that represents the search for understanding through dialogue.” Patriota called for protesters “to convey their demands peacefully”

“I believe that the great majority of the protesters are not taking part in this violence and are instead looking to improve Brazil’s democracy via legitimate forms of protest,” Mr Patriota said.

Despite the violence, the majority of protesters have been peaceful. In massive demonstrations through this week, as small groups began to vandalise, crowds would often turn and start to chant, “No violence! No violence!” But the pattern in cities across the nation has been that once night falls, the violence begins.