“Unblock the roads”. The day after his first post-electoral defeat speech, during which Jair Bolsonaro half-acknowledged Lula’s victory in the Brazilian presidential election, the outgoing president this time asked his supporters to lift their roadblocks. A call for calm that the far-right leader nevertheless doubled with support for “legitimate demonstrations”, while his supporters gathered in front of places of command to demand intervention by the army.
“I appeal to you: unblock the roads. This does not seem to me to be part of the legitimate demonstrations, ”said the far-right leader, defeated by Lula in the presidential election, in a video broadcast on social networks, in reference to the roadblocks maintained in more than half of the States, even if they were less numerous than the day before.
“Other demonstrations that are held throughout Brazil, in other places, are part of the democratic game, they are welcome,” he added. This day of mobilization was marred by a violent episode: on a roadblock near Mirassol, in the state of São Paulo (southeast), a motorist hit demonstrators, injuring at least seven according to the CNN channel.
“Peaceful demonstrations will always be welcome”
Some bolsonarists proved to be threatening towards journalists, including an AFP team, in particular in São Paulo, where the number of demonstrators had started to drop at the end of the afternoon. These protests took place the day after the speech by Jair Bolsonaro, ex-captain of the army nostalgic for the military dictatorship (1964-85), narrowly defeated in the presidential election on Sunday by ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010).
In São Paulo, thousands of Bolsonarists demonstrated in front of the military command of the south-east, demanding an intervention of the army to cries of “federal intervention immediately”, noted an AFP-TV journalist. A similar demonstration in front of the army headquarters in Brasilia also brought together thousands of protesters, according to an AFP photographer, some chanting “civil resistance”.
Same scenario in Rio de Janeiro, where thousands of demonstrators sang in front of the military command: “Lula, thief, your place is in prison”, according to an AFP-TV journalist.
He broke a heavy two-day silence on Tuesday to say he would “respect” the Constitution and gave the green light to the transition with his left-wing successor Lula. But he also delivered a message received as encouragement by his supporters: “Peaceful demonstrations will always be welcome”.
According to him, they are “the fruit of indignation and a feeling of injustice regarding the way the electoral process unfolded”, a sentence taken up on Wednesday by his deputy son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, in a post on Instagram. which showed an aerial view of the protest in Rio de Janeiro.