Brazil's Temer orders troops in after protesters trash ministries

Protesters demanding the resignation of Brazilian President Michel Temer staged running battles with police and set fire to a ministry building in Brasilia on Wednesday, prompting the scandal-hit leader to order the army onto the streets.

Violence erupted soon after the crowd, estimated by police at 35,000, marched toward the presidential palace, which is flanked by Congress and the government buildings.

A small group of masked protesters fired powerful fireworks at police, set ablaze furniture in the Agriculture Ministry, and sprayed anti-Temer graffiti on government buildings.

Police unleashed volleys of tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets to halt them, triggering running battles.

"At this moment, federal troops are already here in (the foreign ministry)," defence minister Raul Jungmann said in a brief televised statement. "And next there are troops arriving to secure all the ministerial buildings."

When protesters set a fire in the agriculture ministry, employees were forced to flee.

"There was an invasion of the ministry's private entrance. They lit a fire in a room, broke photos in a gallery of ex-ministers and confronted police," a spokesman for the ministry told AFP. "The building was evacuated."

Jungmann said the army was ordered in by Temer, who is under a corruption investigation.

Troops are regularly used in Brazil to back up police when law and order breaks down or help at major events like last year's Rio Olympics.

However, the issue is deeply sensitive in a country that lived under military rule from 1964-1985 and the decision to bring soldiers into the heart of the government complex spooked even Temer's allies.

"The question of a military presence is always something that frightens us," Tasso Jereissati, president of the PSDB social democrats said.