An armed man who held dozens of people hostage on a bus in Rio de Janeiro and threatened to set it on fire has been seized by officers after a four-hour standoff, Brazilian police said.

Thousands of demonstrators have flooded into a square in Brazil’s economic hub, Sao Paulo, for the latest in a historic wave of protests against the state of public transport, schools and other public services.

An American woman was gang-raped and beaten while her French boyfriend was shackled, hit with a crowbar, and forced to watch the attacks in Rio de Janeiro.