The municipality of Anguillara Veneta, near Venice in northeastern Italy, awarded honorary citizenship to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday, a ceremony disrupted by protests from opponents of the tribute .
The ceremony took place in an elegant 17th-century villa nearby, where Jair Bolsonaro had a long lunch in the company of some 200 guests.
"Anguillara loves Brazil but not Bolsonaro"
“I am moved to be here. I think it shows. This is where my grandparents left. I like being surrounded by good people, ”said Jair Bolsonaro, quoted by the AGI agency. “God wanted me to become president of Brazil (…) we are doing an excellent job which is certainly recognized by the people but not by the mass media”. At the end of the 19th century, overwhelmed by poverty, a thousand inhabitants of Anguillara Veneta, whose ancestors of Jair Bolsonaro, had emigrated to Brazil.
In the morning, around 200 people demonstrated against the attribution of this honorary title to the Brazilian far-right president, the object of much criticism on the international scene both for his environmental policy and for his positions on the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It is right that he visits the city where his family comes from, but not that he is presented as a model to follow by granting him honorary citizenship," said Antonio Spada, a municipal councilor of this municipality. led by the League, the anti-immigrant sovereignist party of Matteo Salvini which also controls the Veneto region.
On a large sign, the demonstrators had written “Dehors Bolsonaro”.
On a banner was written by hand: “Anguillara loves Brazil but not Bolsonaro”.
Bolsonaro criticized for his management of the epidemic
Supporters of Bolsonaro had also made the trip: "I am here to tell him that he is not alone," said Silvana Kowalsky, an elegant 50-year-old woman, who came especially from Vicenza, 85 kilometers away, for express his support. These supporters, armed with Brazilian flags, were less numerous. In nearby Padua, police used water cannons to push back a few hundred anti-Bolsonaro protesters near the famous Basilica of St. Anthony, where the Brazilian president was expected but ultimately gave up on surrendering.
Since Bolsonaro came to power in 2019, deforestation and fires in the Amazon have exploded, as his government demands to be paid to protect the Amazon rainforest, 60% of which is in Brazil and whose maintenance is crucial for curb global warming.
He also decided to ignore the COP26 climate conference to go to Anguillara Veneta.
Jair Bolsonaro, accused by a commission of inquiry of the Brazilian Senate of having "deliberately exposed" his compatriots to "mass contamination" by his denial of the seriousness of the health crisis, is to meet Matteo Salvini on Tuesday in Tuscany (center- North).
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