(CNN) Supporters of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff protested her impeachment Wednesday night by setting fires, damaging property and clashing with police in the country's largest city, Sao Paulo.
Lawmakers voted 61-20 Wednesday to remove Rousseff from office, finding her guilty of breaking budgetary laws in an impeachment trial.
A protester jumps on a police vehicle during a march against the Senate vote Wednesday in Sao Paulo.
Michel Temer, Rousseff's former vice president who has been the interim president since her suspension in May, will serve out the remainder of her term. Temer, a leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, was sworn in as President on Wednesday afternoon.
Police lined the streets to curb the often violent demonstrations, which saw property vandalized and police vehicles damaged. Police fired tear gas at some supporters of the former leader in an attempt to quell the protests.
Police line the streets during a protest march of supporters of ex-President Dilma Rousseff in Sao Paulo.
Temer, 75, inherits a tattered economy along with the keys to the presidential palace in Brasilia, the capital.
In an attempt to bring calm to the streets and reassure ordinary Brazilians, Temer said: "This is a moment of hope, to rebuild trust in Brazil. Uncertainty has come to an end. It's time to unify the country."
Pro-Rousseff protesters clash with police during Wednesday night's march in Sao Paulo.
The new President met with his Cabinet and promised to tackle unemployment.
"I am not saying it is an easy task, since we have almost 12 million people unemployed in this country," he said, according to a CNN translation. "It's a scary number, and there is nothing less dignified than unemployment."
The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff
As young Marxist during Brazil's military dictatorship, Dilma Rousseff was charged by a military court with subversion and jailed in November 1970. Rousseff has said she was tortured with electrical shocks by her captors during her imprisonment.
As former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff, Rousseff took on several high-profile roles. She announced the discovery of Brazil's pre-salt oil reserves, which would have made the country self-sustainable and could have produced up to 100 billion barrels of oil. But the reserve, discovered in 2009, still remains untapped.
Rousseff campaigning for the presidency in 2010.
Dilma Rousseff is sworn in to her first term on January 1, 2011, becoming Brazil's first female president. She's seen here with running mate Michel Temer, who has now succeeded her as president.
Rousseff gestures during her testimony during her impeachment trial at the National Congress in Brasilia on August 29, 2016.
After the Senate voted for her impeachment, Rousseff was officially removed from office Wednesday afternoon.
A general election is scheduled for 2018.
Wednesday's vote marked the culmination of a contentious impeachment process that has dragged on for months. The political crisis came as Brazil hosted the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this month, while the country has also been trying to pull itself out of recession.
Brazil's first female president is out of a job but hasn't been barred from the ballot if she wants to run again -- a motion to bar her from holding any public office for the next eight years failed.
Rousseff, 68, a former Marxist guerrilla, said this week that she had committed no crime and was proud she'd been "faithful to my commitment to the nation."
Sen. Lindbergh Farias of Rousseff's Workers' Party made an impassioned plea against her impeachment.
"This is a farce. This is a pretext. This is absolutely irrelevant. There are two types of senators, the one that know there was no crime of responsibility and vote against the impeachment and those that know there was no crime of responsibility and vote in favor," he said, shouting from the Senate floor.
Sen. Ronaldo Caiado of the Democrats argued for Rousseff's ouster, saying that lawmakers weren't the ones behind the impeachment process.
"It began because 90% of the population has said loudly, no more (Workers' Party)," he said.
World leaders who left office
Brazil's Dilma Rousseff was ousted from the presidency on August 31, 2016, when the
Senate voted 61-20 to find her guilty of breaking budgetary laws in an impeachment trial. Rousseff had been suspended earlier. Here are other world leaders who left office before the end of their term, either by choice or by constitutional action:
Richard Nixon: In 1974, five years after he was first elected, Nixon became the first U.S. President to resign from office. He stepped down after the
Watergate scandal, which stemmed from a break-in at the Democratic National Committee office during the 1972 presidential campaign.
Margaret Thatcher: The United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister,
who was called the "Iron Lady" for her personal and political toughness, served from 1975 to 1990. She was forced to resign in 1990 during an internal leadership struggle.
Shinzo Abe: After serving just a year as Japan's Prime Minister, Abe resigned from his post in 2007 after low approval ratings and scandals amongst several government ministers.
He was re-elected in 2012.
Tony Abbott: One of Australia's most controversial leaders in recent history, Abbott
was toppled in a leadership challenge just two years into his role. After his final speech, Abbott ended his term with a tweet: "Thank you for the privilege of being Prime Minister. My love for this country is as strong as ever."
Pervez Musharraf: He rose to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, but the former Pakistani President
left office nine years later after an erosion in power coupled with economic problems and accusations that included corruption. Musharraf denied doing anything for personal gain.
Silvio Berlusconi: Berlusconi weathered many crises, including sex scandals and corruption trials, during his three terms as Italy's Prime Minister. But
the loss of his parliamentary majority -- and with it his ability to command the government -- was a blow from which Berlusconi could not recover in 2011.
Thabo Mbeki: Mbeki rose to power in 1999 after Nelson Mandela -- South Africa's first black President -- retired. Mbeki had been Mandela's deputy. He
resigned in 2008 after his party asked him to. The request came after a judge threw out the corruption, fraud and racketeering charges against Mbeki's political rival, Jacob Zuma, calling them invalid and accusing Mbeki's government of political interference in the case.
Tony Blair: The former British Prime Minister was in office from 1997 to 2007.
He resigned with his reputation clouded by the disastrous outcome of the Iraq war and the "Cash for Honors" scandal, allegations that his ruling Labour Party promised honors -- including seats in the upper House of Lords and knighthoods -- in return for loans to help a 2005 general election campaign. (No charges were brought in the case.) He handed the Prime Minister post to Gordon Brown, who himself would resign a few years later.
Boris Yeltsin: The Russian President
announced his resignation on New Year's Eve in 1999, putting then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in charge. During the announcement, Yeltsin apologized for failing to live up to early expectations as the architect of Russia's new democracy.
Fernando Collor de Mello: Collor had served for just two years as Brazil's President when he resigned in 1992, weeks after impeachment proceedings against him had begun. Allegations of corruption had started just 100 days into his presidency. Collor was convicted by the Senate and barred from holding office for eight years. Now he is a senator himself.
The heir to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rousseff was re-elected by a narrow margin in 2014, but a recession and a cross-party corruption scandal put an end to any political goodwill she might have earned, eventually leading to her ouster.
A statement from a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had "taken note" of the impeachment process and Temer's swearing-in.
"The secretary-general extends his best wishes to President Temer as he begins his tenure," the statement said. "He trusts that under President Temer's leadership, Brazil and the United Nations will continue their traditional close partnership."
CNN's Shasta Darlington, Flora Charner and Julia Jones contributed to this report.