The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro This Sunday he gathered thousands of followers in São Paulo to take his first mass bath since he left power at the end of 2022, and defend himself against investigations into an alleged coup attempt.
Climbing onto a truck located in the middle of Paulista Avenue, the most emblematic of the city, Bolsonaro denied the existence of a coup plot, calling himself the victim of “persecution,” and criticizing the “abuses of some.”
“What is a blow? “They are tanks in the street, they are weapons, they are conspiracy… None of that was done in Brazil.”he defended himself before a crowd dressed in green and yellow, the colors of the flag, and who applauded him and shouted “myth” after every three sentences.
At the same time, he assured that “the minutes of a state of siege decree”, supposedly drafted by Bolsonaro’s advisors and on which the police investigations focus, is a mechanism protected by the Constitution and that, in any case, it finally does not was activated.
Hundreds of thousands on Paulista Avenue
On the other hand, he called to “pacify” the country and asked legislators to approve an amnesty for people convicted of invading the headquarters of the Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court in Brasilia on January 8, 2023.
However, he avoided explicitly charging against one of his favorite targets, the highest court, which already withdrew his passport at the beginning of the month and prohibited him from leaving the country in the framework of police investigations that also involve several generals and allies of the former president. .
Bolsonarism expected to gather more than half a million people on Paulista Avenue after months of judicial setbacks, but the authorities had not given attendance figures until 5:30 p.m.
In a show of political muscle, the former first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, a handful of governors and mayors, as well as around a hundred legislators accompanied the far-rightist in the arena.
Unlike the measured tone used by Bolsonaro, the influential evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia did attack the Court and spoke about an alleged “evil engineering” to try to imprison the ultra leader, who has already been disqualified until 2030 for questioning the electronic ballot boxes. used in elections.
Flags of Brazil
Malafaia warned that, if the court’s magistrates order Bolsonaro to be imprisoned, “it will not be for his (former president’s) destruction, but for theirs.”
Bolsonaro’s followers began to gather on Avenida Paulista hours before the start of the event to find a place in the first rows in front of the truck, whose speakers blasted techno music at full volume to liven up the atmosphere.
Wrapped in Brazilian flags, the majority heeded Bolsonaro’s request not to carry signs with the usual insults against the Supreme Court or President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
However, during the protest there were cries of “thief” against Lula and in conversation with EFE several protesters questioned the “impartiality” of the Supreme Court.
Illegitimate march, according to Lula supporters
Vítor Allen, 39, traveled from the state of Tocantins, about two and a half hours away by plane. He bought the tickets, which were not cheap, as soon as Bolsonaro announced the demonstration a couple of weeks ago.
“We would like there to have been a coup d’état, but unfortunately there was not,” Allen told EFE without hesitation, while claiming the “lack of due process” in the investigations against Bolsonaro.
More moderate, Lisiane and Heitor Lopes, agricultural businessmen aged 65 and 66, respectively, declared themselves “right-wing, but democrats” and said that “everything can be investigated” if certain parameters are met.
“If Bolsonaro is imprisoned by order of the Supreme Court, there may be riots,” they said, in reference to a scenario feared and considered probable by many of the protesters.
Meanwhile, the Workers’ Party, Lula’s party, accused Bolsonaro of organizing an “illegitimate” act that threatens democracy. EFE jmc/enb
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