Bolsonaro supporters upon his arrival Image: AFP
Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro rejected allegations of an attempted coup after the 2022 election in a speech to tens of thousands of supporters.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rejected allegations of an attempted coup after the 2022 election in a speech to tens of thousands of supporters. “What is a coup? Tanks in the streets, weapons, a conspiracy,” said the ultra-right politician on Sunday at a rally in the economic metropolis of São Paulo. “None of this happened in Brazil.”
Bolsonaro once again accused the government of his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of politically “persecuting” him. No one should be banned from the political stage without a “just cause,” he said.
The right-wing politician was banned from all political office for eight years by the country’s highest electoral court in June last year due to unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud. The Supreme Court is also currently investigating Bolsonaro on suspicion of inciting unrest following his election defeat in October 2022. During a half-hour questioning on Thursday at the federal police headquarters in the capital Brasília, he refused to answer questions.
On January 8, 2023, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the government district in Brasília. They attacked and vandalized the parliament, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace. Bolsonaro had not explicitly recognized the election victory of his left-wing successor Lula; Before and after the election he repeatedly spoke of electoral fraud.
With the major rally in São Paulo, the 68-year-old flexed his political muscles. His supporters, dressed in the Brazilian national colors of green and yellow, flocked to Avenida Paulista, one of the most important streets in Latin America’s largest metropolis. In his speech, Bolsonaro called for an amnesty for those arrested after the attack on state institutions on January 8, 2023 – describing them as “poor pigs”.
In recent days, the president from 2019 to 2022 has called on his supporters in several videos on online networks to hold a “peaceful meeting to defend the democratic constitutional state.” Despite the serious allegations, Bolsonaro is still considered the opposition leader and is admired by his supporters. Sunday’s protest was seen as a test of his support ahead of local elections in October, in which his influence is expected to play a role.
Also in the crowd in São Paulo was 63-year-old Wilson Aseka, who had traveled from his home 700 kilometers away in the neighboring state of Minas Gerais. “Bolsonaro is an honest person, a victim of persecution,” Aseka said. “It is important to support him because he stands for God, fatherland and family,” the demonstrator repeated Bolsonaro’s slogan.
Bolsonaro arrived at the rally, where organizers had expected at least 500,000 people, with an Israeli flag – a gesture against comments from President Lula, who recently compared Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip to the Holocaust.
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