Mobilize supporters, intimidate democratic institutions – the right-wing head of state Bolsonaro is turning 7 September, the day of Brazil’s independence, into a day of struggle.
More than 100,000 people demonstrated in Brazil on Independence Day with anti-democratic slogans for President Jair Bolsonaro.
The right-wing head of state himself threatened the STF Supreme Court in a speech in the capital Brasília. A court judge, Alexandre de Moraes, had previously arrested and arrested Bolsonaro supporters on charges of inciting violence and spreading false reports. The court is investigating Bolsonaro, among other things because of the spread of fake news. Addressing the President of the Supreme Court, Luiz Fux, Bolsonaro said on Tuesday (local time): “Either the head of this state authority keeps his (Judge Moraes) in check or this violence will suffer what we do not want.”
In the economic metropolis of São Paulo, Bolsonaro repeated his threats and called for disobedience. “I want to tell you that this President will no longer follow any decision made by Mr Alexandre de Moraes,” said Bolsonaro.
Only God could get him out of the “Palacio do Planalto”, the government palace, said Bolsonaro. Alexandre de Moraes defended the democratic achievements. “On this September 7th we celebrate our independence, which has guaranteed our freedom and is only strengthened with absolute respect for democracy,” he wrote on Twitter.
The governor of the state of São Paulo, João Doria, spoke for the first time in view of Bolsonaro’s statements on a possible impeachment proceedings against the president. “I am in favor of impeachment against President Jair Bolsonaro – from what I heard today, he is clearly against the constitution,” said Doria, one of the head of state’s worst opponents.
Bolsonaro and his supporters have repeatedly attacked democratic institutions. Supporters broke through barriers to the government district on Monday evening. During Tuesday’s demonstrations, people displayed threats against the Supreme Court and Congress on banners and posters. They called for military intervention.
Scientists and activists had warned that in Brazil on September 7th, scenes like Washington’s storm on the Capitol in January could play out. Bolsonaro had been fueling the mood for weeks with a view to Brazil’s Independence Day with authoritarian threatening gestures. Although a controversial reform of the Brazilian electoral system in parliament failed in August, the “tropical Trump” in the style of the former US president sowed doubts about the voting system.
Observers viewed all of this as an attempt to show strength, mobilize supporters and intimidate democratic institutions. “These coup threats try to demonstrate strength, but on the contrary only reveal the weakness and whoever utters them,” said the governor of the state of Ceará, Camilo Santana, of the left Labor Party in a tweet.
Supporters of the president have demonstrated in more than 25 cities since Tuesday morning. In São Paulo alone, according to official information, to which the newspaper «Folha de S. Paulo» cited, around 125,000 participants were counted. But there were also demonstrations against Bolsonaro in Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and almost all other large cities. In view of the failures in the corona pandemic, the opponents called him, among other things, a “genocide”, demanded “Bolsonaro out”, corona vaccines for everyone, more jobs and better salaries.
The approval of Bolsonaro’s administration has continued to decline in the course of the corona pandemic. At the beginning of July, 51 percent of those questioned rejected the president’s policy in a survey by the Datafolha polling institute. That was the worst result for Bolsonaro since he took office in 2019.
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