Flames burnt around signs propped up in the road reading “Out with Temer,” in reference to interim president Michel Temer, who will see out the rest of Rousseff’s term should she be removed from office.

The military police said some 800 people had participated in the protest along Sao Paulo’s main avenue, whilst the Central Workers’ Union claimed 20,000 people had turned out.

Appearing before the Senate on Monday, Rousseff said Brazil’s economic elite and political opposition had sought to destabilize her government since her 2014 re-election.

She denied charges of breaking budgetary rules and denounced the nine-month impeachment process that has paralyzed Brazilian politics as a plot to overthrow her and as a coup.

If the Senate convicts Rousseff on Tuesday or Wednesday as expected, Temer, 75, will be sworn in to serve the rest of her term through 2018.

His business-friendly government vows to take unpopular austerity measures to plug a growing fiscal deficit that cost Brazil its investment-grade credit rating last year.

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