By Maria Carolina Marcello
(Reuters) – Protesters convened in several capitals were present this Thursday in acts against the president and reelection candidate, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), and to defend the Brazilian electoral system in the face of constant attacks made by the chief executive, joining forces the act carried out earlier by entities, jurists, businessmen and unions at the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo (USP).
As part of a strategy to resume popular mobilization, and as part of the “Fora Bolsonaro” campaign, the acts throughout the day were convened with the intention of promoting a “warm up” for larger demonstrations scheduled for September 10, after the Mother’s Day holiday. Independence, the date on which Bolsonaro intends to take his supporters to the streets.
“We are here against Bolsonaro, against the coup threats he has been making and because of the cuts in education he is constantly making,” student Vinícius Sotero told Reuters during a demonstration on Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo. .
Although in preparation for September, the acts on this Thursday organized by the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and the Central de Movimentos Populares (CMP), in addition to universities, social and student movements, give a sample and can serve as an impetus to the mobilization for the candidacy of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who leads the polls of voting intentions against Bolsonaro, but has seen his comfortable advantage reduced in the most recent surveys.
Under the slogan of defending democracy and free elections, the demonstrations also included issues such as the country’s social situation, unemployment, inflation and the increase in hunger, in addition to the lack of investment in education.
In São Paulo, thousands of protesters gathered on Avenida Paulista with flags of student organizations, political parties and banners. Reuters TV footage shows students shouting in chorus: “Take the scissors out of your hand and invest in education”.
Earlier, in Rio de Janeiro, protesters carrying banners reading “Fora Bolsonaro” chanted slogans such as “There will be no coup, there will be Lula” and “Dictatorship never again”.
“Today we are present in Candelária to defend our democracy. Our democracy, which has been threatened by this disgusting fascist who is in power in Brazil. We are here to ask for free elections, to ask for education, to ask for improvement for our people, because our people cannot die of hunger and must have the right to vote”, said Pedro Lucas Fernandes, from the State Union of Students of the Rio de Janeiro.
In Brasília, union and student organizations mobilized a few hundred people, who marched along the Esplanada dos Ministérios, according to local reports.
The engagement of student organizations took advantage not only of the manifestos read at the Faculty of Law in São Paulo earlier, but also took advantage of the fact that the student’s day was celebrated on August 11th.
This Thursday morning, in the face of Bolsonaro’s rhetorical escalation against the reliability of the Brazilian electoral system, entities, jurists, artists and even bankers and businessmen decided to take a stand. Two letters were read in defense of democracy, elections and the electoral system.
The first of them, endorsed by more than one hundred entities, such as the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) — although supported by only 18 of its more than 100 affiliates — the Brazilian Bar Association of São Paulo, and the Amnesty International, among others; and a second, the “Letter to Brazilians and Brazilians in Defense of the Democratic Rule of Law”, endorsed by jurists, artists, bankers, businessmen and some candidates for the Presidency of the Republic.
Bolsonaro, who did not sign the document, which he calls a “letter”, avoided mentioning the movement, but published an ironic post writing that “today a very important act took place in favor of Brazil and of great relevance to the Brazilian people”, for in then state that it was about the reduction of the price of diesel by Petrobras.
(Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello, in Brasília; Leonardo Benassato, in São Paulo; and Sebastian Rocandio, in Rio de Janeiro; Edition by Pedro Fonseca)
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