Mass protests in Brazil call for Jair Bolsonaro’s
impeachment
Crowds parade through cities as polling shows
president’s ratings sinking to new depths
Tom Phillips in
Rio de Janeiro
Sat 2 Oct 2021
19.53 BST
Tens of
thousands of protesters have returned to the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities
to demand Jair Bolsonaro’s impeachment, as a poll showed the Brazilian
president’s ratings had plumbed new depths.
Huge crowds
paraded through downtown Rio on Saturday to voice their outrage at Bolsonaro’s
response to a Covid outbreak that has killed nearly 600,000 people and dealt a
heavy blow to the South American country’s economy.
“We have
come to shout at the top of our voices: Bolsonaro’s place is behind bars,”
Carlos Lupi, the president of Brazil’s Democratic Labour party, told thousands
of flag-waving demonstrators who had gathered outside Rio’s municipal chamber
under a ferocious midday sun.
“This crook
who uses the Bible to trick the people … This worm! This wretch! He must go to
jail!” Lupi bellowed to cheers of approval.
Jandira
Feghali, a congresswoman from the Communist party of Brazil, urged Bolsonaro’s
opponents to form a broad cross-party coalition against the president’s
“fascist” administration. “600,000 lives have been lost,” Feghali told the
demo. “We can wait no longer. It is time for us to scream out loud: ‘Bolsonaro
out!’”
All morning
dissenters had streamed into Rio’s historic centre, from across Brazil’s
second-largest city and from all walks of life.
Renato
Bezerra de Mello came with a group of artist friends, each of whom wielded a
lacerated yellow and green Brazil flag. “This is how we feel about the state of
our country. It’s in tatters,” the 61-year-old artist said.
“He’s an
odious figure,” De Mello said of Bolsonaro, whom a record 58% of Brazilians now
oppose according to a poll released on the eve of the protest. “He is the tip
of the iceberg of what is worst in all of us.”
Antonia
Pellegrino, a writer whose grandfather was a key figure in the fight against
Brazil’s 1964-85 dictatorship, said she was attending her first anti-Bolsonaro
rally since the coronavirus pandemic began, having recently been vaccinated.
“It’s invigorating
and it is essential for us to be out in the streets to halt the process of
destruction that our country is going through,” Pellegrino said as a column of
protesters marched down Rio Branco avenue.
José Manuel
Ferreira Barbosa, a decorator from Belford Roxo, a city on Rio’s rundown
northside, said he had come to protest unemployment, soaring inflation and the
spread of hunger that he blamed on Bolsonaro.
“The
president has cut taxes on rifles but not for basic food,” said the
63-year-old, who carried a banner that read: “Rifles no, food yes.” “We cannot
remain silent,” Barbosa said of the social calamity unfolding in Brazil.
Despite
growing opposition to Bolsonaro – a right-wing radical who critics accuse of
destroying Brazil’s economy, environment and place in the world – he retains a
hardcore support base of about 20% of voters.
The
pro-Trump former paratrooper also continues to enjoy control of congress,
thanks to a deal with a powerful and infamously self-seeking coalition of
centre-right parties called the “centrão”.
That
support means impeachment remains an unlikely prospect unless the growing ranks
of Bolsonaro’s foes can pull together to remove him from office before next
October’s presidential election, which polls suggest the incumbent would lose
to any of his potential challengers.
On Saturday
prominent opposition leaders lined up to urge such unity.
Ciro Gomes,
a centre-left former minister who intends to run for president, said
Bolsonaro’s impeachment would only be possible if the opposition’s 120
representatives in congress could win over conservative allies. “Bolsonaro is a
serial criminal who is attacking democracy and has killed hundreds of thousands
of Brazilians,” Gomes said, before shouting: “Bolsonaro out!”
As he
marched through downtown Rio, Alessandro Molon, the opposition leader in the
lower house of congress, said massive street protests were crucial to show that
most Brazilians now wanted Bolsonaro gone. Another major mobilisation is due to
be held on 15 November.
“We have to
show in the streets what the polls have already shown in numbers – that the
overwhelming majority of Brazilians will no longer tolerate the misrule that
has caused 600,000 [Covid] deaths and has destroyed the Brazilian economy and
Brazil’s international reputation,” Molon said.
“We are
occupying the streets to give visibility to the silent majority that can no
longer bear Bolsonaro.”
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