One woman spent hours on her knees in front of the party building gate, wailing loudly.
During the protest at the Parliament building gate, opposition politicians shouted slogans, demanding a judicial probe into the coal block allocation.
The rows of buildings on either side of Market Street are punctuated periodically by large access gates that lead to the space behind the buildings, gates that are wide enough to drive a horse and cart through.
Then São Paulo rapidly expanded to become one of the world's largest cities, its residents moving into high-rise buildings, gated enclaves and sprawling slums.
Muggings and robberies have already pushed many people into guarded high-rise apartment buildings, gated communities or homes with elaborate security systems.
After his meeting with Mr. Bush last week, Mr. Sharon promised to look for ways to make the wall less onerous to Palestinians, perhaps by building more gates.
Among the avenues supported by critics are seriously considering building sea gates that could close during a storm and block a surge from Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean into the East River and New York Harbor.
The deal provided payments to the Imperial Irrigation District (this year, the rate is six hundred and twenty-four dollars per acre-foot), a windfall that would be used partly to improve irrigation systems: installing drip lines and pump-back systems, lining canals and building automated gates.
