Before tens of thousands of people gathered in front of Copacabana beach, the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro said that “the whole world is aware of how threatened it is our freedom of expressionand I came here to fight for that, because in Brazil We no longer have that right.”
Dressed in the yellow shirt of the Brazilian team, and accompanied by his wife Michelle, the 69-year-old former president had called on his supporters “to a peaceful act, in defense of democracy and for our freedom, without signs or banners.”
“In Brazil we are close to a dictatorship,” Bolsonaro emphasized, surrounded by a large number of followers that spread along the beach.
On the beach, he asked for a round of applause for Elon Musk: ““He had the courage to show with evidence where our democracy is going.”
Elon Musk’s dispute in the Brazilian justice system
Aside from the serious problems that Bolsonaro himself has with Justice, this Sunday’s demonstration was linked to the conflict that had arisen in Brazil with the magnate’s social network Elon Musk, who confronted Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, whom he called a dictator and threatened to disobey court orders that ordered the former Twitter to suspend accounts.
Attentive to the slogan, many of their supporters attend dressed in Brazilian national team shirts, wrapped in Brazilian flags or with their colors.
“I came to fight for my freedom of expression because We no longer have that right. The STF (Supreme Federal Court) crossed all limits. (…) It is not because of a party or a person,” said Daiana Mesquita, a 38-year-old communicator.
Bolsonaro resorted to the argument of defending freedom to rally his followers, after Musk, owner of platform
In the name of fighting disinformation, De Moraes ordered to block user accounts on internet platformsamong them X, especially after attempts by Bolsonaro supporters to discredit the voting system during the last electoral campaign.
The American tycoon, who has not hidden his harmony with Bolsonaro, called Moraes a “dictator” and said that he should be removed. He also threatened to disobey his court orders to suspend accounts.
In response, the magistrate ordered an investigation into Musk, by accusing him of “criminal instrumentalization” of the platform.
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Jair Bolsonaro is also accused in court
The Bolsonaro demonstration takes place two months after Bolsonaro returned to the public arena, with a show of force in Sao Paulo, which brought together some 185,000 people, according to researchers’ estimates.
Disqualified from contesting elections until 2030 for having misinformed about the electoral system, The former president (2019-2022) has dedicated the last few months to traveling the country to meet his supporters.
Several judicial investigations are planned on him. The most serious suspicion is that he conspired to prevent the leftist Lula from taking power after the October 2022 elections.
The investigators are handling a document that would have been in the hands of Bolsonaro and intended, as they said, to “prevent the access to power of the legitimately elected president”call new elections and arrest De Moraes, also president of the Superior Electoral Tribunal.
This draft decree is “the biggest fake news in the history of Brazil,” said Bolsonaro in the video in which he called for demonstrations this Sunday.
The former presidentHe has always proclaimed his innocence and calls himself a victim of “persecution.”
Source: Ambito
