BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Hundreds of Brazilians are protesting the impending visit of Iranian's president, citing his calls for Israel's destruction, his government's controversial nuclear activities and his declarations against homosexuals.
About 500 people gathered Sunday for the protest at Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema Beach.
Groups representing gays, Afro-Brazilian artists, Christians, Jews, and Holocaust survivors carried protest banners and a giant cage containing white balloons, which they said is a symbol of Iran's "repressed values."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to arrive with 200 Iranian businessmen on Monday. He will meet privately with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who on Sunday called it "an honor" to receive him.
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