A colourful 100-strong crowd kitted in yellow-and-green football gear gathered at City Gate, in Valletta last night in a show of solidarity with the protests taking place in Brazil.

“We are demonstrating against the political corruption that has been long ongoing in our homeland. We are away from home but we are not running away from the fight,” said Gisele Correia, 27.

The protests have seen about two million people marching in major cities in Brazil. They started last week by opposition to rising bus fares but rapidly turned into nationwide marches against President Dilma Rousseff, corruption, police brutality, poor public services and excessive spending on the forthcoming World Cup.

“We do football but we have other priorities” read one of the huge banners the Brazilians living in Malta held in their protest.

“This is not just about the 20c rise in the bus fair but about social justice.

“We have no proper health and education infrastructure, yet, we keep investing in football. We are tired of fake promises,” Alvaro Benevides, 45, who runs a language school here said. Brazilians, he added, had reached the limit of their tolerance to long-standing problems.

“Politicians approved the spending of billions of dollars on the Confederations Cup, the World Cup, the 2016 Olympics... we’re spending money on new stadiums rather than public services,” he said.

The walk through Republic Street was characterised by loud cheers, spontaneous clapping, the singing of the national anthem and waving of flags. Most of the participants were students of English but there were also a good number of Brazilians residing on the island.

“We have remained quiet for too long,” Carla Mesquita, 30, a student, said.

Asked whether the demonstrations at home were inspired by Turkey, Thais Sperandio Moreira, 25, shook her head: “We have been tired for many years but our voice will now make a difference.”