Brazil: the crowd invades Brasilia, Lula again invested in the presidency of Brazil

Re-elected Brazilian President Lula and his wife, just before taking the oath in Brasilia, January 1, 2023. AP - Gustavo Moreno

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

Several tens of thousands of Lula supporters dressed in red had invaded the center of Brasilia this Sunday, January 1 at midday, a few hours before the historic leader of the left was proclaimed president of Brazil for the third time.

The re-elected Brazilian president enjoyed a walkabout among his supporters before taking the oath before Parliament. 

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Lula's investiture ceremony began with a minute's silence in tribute to Brazilian soccer legend Pelé and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Before the Brazilian anthem resounds in the enclosure of the Congress.

The Brazilian president signed the ledger with a pen given by one of his supporters at a rally in 1989, long before he came to power.

At 77, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was proclaimed president of the large emerging country of 215 million inhabitants for the third time, 12 years after leaving power after two terms (2003-2010).

In his speech, Lula widely criticized the mandate of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, without ever quoting him.

The president focused his speech on the reconquest of social rights and freedoms, for him flouted during the presidency of his far-right predecessor.

Up to 300,000 people are expected for this day to combine the pomp, with ceremonies regulated to the millimeter to which 17 heads of state must attend, and a popular festival with concerts.

Blazing sun

Under the blazing sun of this early southern summer, thousands of Brazilians, often dressed in the emblematic red of Lula's Workers' Party (PT), had to wait in queues of hundreds of meters because of the controls of security.

“Olé, olé, olà, Lula, Lula”, and “

 “, “ 

” shouted a joyful crowd, in reference to the Esplanade of the Ministries, in the heart of Brasilia, where Lula will deliver his first speech as president in the afternoon.

Jair Bolsonaro in the United States

Reclusive and almost silent since his defeat in October, Jair Bolsonaro, who loses his presidential immunity, left Brazil on Friday for Florida, in the south of the United States.

While his most radical followers want to prevent Lula's accession to power and are still camped outside barracks in the country, demanding military intervention, security has been tightened.

 All the police forces of the district of Brasilia, some 8,000 agents, are mobilized, as well as a thousand federal police officers.

The number of people who can attend Lula's speech outside the Planalto Palace has been limited to 30,000 people.

Patrols are taking place at Brasilia airport near which an explosive device was discovered a week ago in a tanker truck, placed by a Bolsonarist who wanted to " 

 " in Brazil.

(

AFP)

►Also read: INTERNATIONAL GUEST - Anaïs Fléchet (historian): in Brazil, "the fight against hunger will be one of Lula da Silva's priorities"

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• Brazil

• Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

• Jair Bolsonaro