Bolsonaro first surveyed his followers in Brazil from a military helicopter. The participants wore banners demanding to close both the congress and the Supreme Court. At least one of them called for military intervention to achieve this.
After his helicopter ride, the president joined the protest and could be seen shaking hands with his supporters, without wearing the mandatory mouth guard in the capital. Then he got up on a police horse and trotted along the crowd.
Warns of military dictatorship
The background is allegations by former Minister of Justice Sérgio Moro that the president tried to interfere in the work of the federal police for personal reasons. Moro resigned in protest when Bolsonaro fired police chief Maurício Valeixo at the end of April, whom he later tried to replace with a family friend. Fun has suggested that Bolsonaro wanted to gain insight into investigations that are going on against his sons.
High Court Judge Celso de Mello, who is responsible for investigating the charges, warns at the same time that the president's supporters want to see a return to military dictatorship. One such situation prevailed in Brazil between 1964–1985 - a period that the President praised.
While President Bolsonaro was meeting with his supporters, violent rioting ensued between police and protesters in the streets of São Paulo. Counter-protesters who threw stones at the police in an attempt to reach the president's supporters were met with tear gas by police.
Further investigation
"We must resist the destruction of the democratic order to avoid what happened in the Weimar Republic when Hitler, after coming to power through elections [...] did not hesitate to repeal the constitution and introduce a totalitarian system in 1933," de Mello writes in a message to other judges that Reuters noted.
de Mello's staff says in a comment that the message was of a private nature.
The Supreme Court is also investigating allegations of hatred and threats on social media from Bolsonaro supporters.