Woman stopped from forcing her way into Brazil presidency

A woman claiming to be "the husband" of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was overpowered as she tried to force her way into the presidential palace, officials said Wednesday.

The 29-year-old woman, identified as Edileine Celestino da Silva and sporting men's clothes and haircut, showed at the palace late Tuesday and tried to enter through a restricted entrance, the Correio Braziliense daily reported.

A presidential guard warned her to stay away and fired his weapon into the ground to frighten her.

But the two "traded blows and rolled down the ramp" until security agents intervened, the paper said.

"I came here to propose to Dilma. I am her husband," the sobbing woman said.

"I am not crying because of the blows I received. I am crying because I am in love," according to press reports, which a presidential security official confirmed to AFP.

"At no time was the security of the president compromised. She (the woman) could never have entered (the palace)," the presidential security spokesman said.

The woman was first taken to hospital before being transferred to a police station.

It was the sixth attempt to break into the palace since Rousseff took office in January 2011.

The most serious case involved a man who threatened to take his own life if his letter was not delivered to the president. But the incident ended without violence.

AFP