Some 200 Ghanaians in Brazil for the World Cup have applied to stay permanently citing religious violence back home, police confirmed Friday, as Accra dismissed the bid as baseless.
"Between July 3 and 10, 193 Ghanaians who entered Brazil, for the most part with a tourist visa, have asked for asylum in the police station at Caxias do Sul," a city in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, a federal police spokesman told AFP.