Brazil
Bolsonaro supporters protest against investigations
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro (M) speaks to his supporters at a rally in São Paulo. photo
© Andre Penner/AP/dpa
Brazil’s ex-president is being investigated for his alleged involvement in a coup after his election defeat. Many of his supporters took to the streets in São Paulo.
Tens of thousands of supporters of the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro took to the streets in the metropolis of São Paulo against the criminal investigations against the former right-wing head of state. On Sunday (local time) they marched along the boulevard Avenida Paulista and demonstrated against the investigations into the alleged involvement of the ex-military Bolsonaro in an attempted coup after his election defeat in 2022, as the news portal G1 reported on Sunday.
“I seek pacification to erase the past,” Bolsonaro told his supporters at the rally. “We have to find a way to live in peace.” He called for an amnesty for his supporters, some of whom were sentenced to long prison sentences for the attack on the government district in early 2023.
Bolsonaro is currently being investigated for his alleged involvement in coup plans following the election victory of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. During his most recent interrogation by the federal police, he refused to testify. The right-wing Bolsonaro was defeated by the left-wing politician Lula in the runoff election for the presidency in October 2022. On January 8, 2023, supporters of the ex-military who did not want to recognize Lula’s election victory stormed Congress, the seat of government and the Supreme Court in Brasília and caused considerable damage.