NATAL, Brazil -- Demonstrators have burned a U.S. flag near the stadium in northern Brazil where Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to attend the U.S. soccer team's opening World Cup match Monday evening.
The protesters in Natal also burned a flag of international soccer governing body FIFA and shouted against ''imperialism.'' The protest drew only a few dozen people and they posed no threat to security officers who stopped them at a barricade about 2 kilometers (a mile) from the stadium's gates.
Anti-World Cup demonstrations also took place Monday in the southern city of Curitiba before a match between Iran and Nigeria.
Mass protests against the high cost of the World Cup spread across Brazil last year but demonstrations have been more subdued since the tournament began Thursday.
