Michel Temer replaces Brazilian president Rousseff during impeachment trial

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, who has been in office since 2011, was suspended from her duties hours after the Senate voted 55-22 to put her on trial, a decision that ended more than 13 years of rule by the left-wing The Workers' Party.

She addressed the nation in a defiant speech from outside the presidential palace, calling Senate's decision to suspend her for 180 days "a coup".

"When an elected president is suspended because of a crime she hasn't committed, the name we give is not impeachment but a coup," Rousseff said.

"I may have made mistakes but I did not commit any crime. The coup d’etat threatens to undo true victories of the last decade." 

She said she was proud to be the first woman to be elected president in Brazil and pledged to not give up the struggle against "the coup".

"I have fought my entire life for democracy, I have had many victories," she said, in reference to her youth fighting Brazil's military dictatorship. "The struggle for democracy has no date and no deadline."

Rousseff will be replaced by vice president Michel Temer for the duration of a Senate trial that could take up to six months.

“My new cabinet must work to restore the country's ‘credibility’, Temer said in his first address yesterday.

"We must significantly improve the business environment for the private sector ... and rebalance the government's budget," said Temer. "It is urgent to restore peace and unite Brazil."

He added that Brazil was still a poor nation and that he would protect and expand social programmes.

Brazil is suffering from its worst recession in 10 years, with unemployment reaching 9% in 2015 and inflation is at its highest in 12 years.

Temer has named a business-friendly cabinet that includes respected former central bank chief Henrique Meirelles as finance minster but he has already faced sharp criticism from opponents for his all-white, all-male cabinet and for including ministers implicated in corruption.