BRASILIA – The Bolsonarist movement took to the streets of Brazil on Wednesday, marching to the gates of many barracks and calling for “military intervention” against the progressive leader’s electoral victory. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The demonstrations were so massive and peaceful but clearly anti-democratic that they demanded the armed forces prevent the January 1 inauguration of Lula, who defeated President Jair Bolsonaro last Sunday in the election by at least 1.8 percentage points.
The call was made through social networks, where far-right groups that support Bolsonaro are frantically active, especially through private messaging services such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
The largest gatherings were in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, in both cases at the army’s regional headquarters, as in Brasilia, although there were fewer people.
The motto was by all means the same: “Federal intervention,” under Article 34 of the National Constitution, which at one point states that the central government can intervene, if necessary and by any means possible, to ensure the “republican form.” representative and democratic system.
The excuse, according to the posters shown by the protesters, was also the same, that Lula’s government would lead Brazil to “communism” and implement a system similar to the one in countries like Venezuela or Nicaragua, mentioned on many banners and faithful to Bolsonaro’s campaign speech.
They also denounced the alleged fraud, a hypothesis denied by the electoral justice system and all the parties and institutions that recognized Lula’s victory, as well as hundreds of foreign governments.
Trucks begin to surrender after Bolsonaro’s speech
The demonstrations on Wednesday, a holiday in Brazil to mark the Day of the Dead, followed mass protests by truck drivers estranged from Bolsonaro, who since last Monday have closed nearly 600 highways across the country in protest of Lula’s victory.
This Wednesday, according to the road police, the barriers continued at about 150 points in 15 of the country’s 27 states, and in many cases were only partial blockades, because they obstructed traffic but did not prevent it completely.
In some places, such as the city of Baruri in São Paulo, highways were liberated through a strict intervention by the police, who dispersed the truck drivers with tear gas, but without any confrontations or injuries.
The emotion was kept in check until the last minute in what is already the closest election in the country’s history.
Truckers’ protests have been waning since Bolsonaro finished conceding defeat and decided the government would begin the transition process with Lula’s team, which is scheduled for Thursday.
Bolsonaro ruled by the election results this Tuesday, about 45 hours after the official verdict of the progressive leader’s victory.
In a brief speech, he said that the protests came “as a result of discontent and a sense of injustice over the conduct of the electoral process.”
He stressed that “peaceful demonstrations” are “welcome”, but he stressed that his methods “cannot be the methods of the left, which has always harmed the population”, and stressed that no one can prevent the “right to come and go.”
This Wednesday, in front of the demonstrations at the gates of the barracks, Bolsonaro remained silent, as did Lula, whose team announced that the president-elect would spend “two or three days” on a beach in the northeast, in order to rest after a difficult election campaign.
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