Bolsonaro faces several investigations and has been banned from running for any office until 2030 (French)

Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets of Sao Paulo yesterday, Sunday, in support of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who denounced the decision to declare him ineligible to run for any office.

Bolsonaro told his supporters, “We cannot accept that any force can remove someone from the political scene, unless it is for a good reason. We cannot imagine elections by excluding opponents,” referring to his being banned last June from running for any office until In 2030, he was accused of broadcasting misleading information.

Bolsonaro called for a demonstration yesterday as a test of his popularity amid a scandal surrounding suspicions of his involvement in a "coup attempt," which he denied again. He said in his speech, "What is a coup? Tanks in the streets, weapons, conspiracies. None of this happened in Brazil."

He also described himself in his speech as a "persecuted person," saying, "I seek calm, erasing the past, and finding a way to live in peace," and urged his supporters to "demonstrate peacefully in defense of the democratic rule of law."

A team of researchers at the University of Sao Paulo estimated the number of participants in yesterday's demonstration at about 185,000 people.

Investigations and suspicions

The police had previously stripped Bolsonaro of his passport due to investigations targeting him and those close to him on suspicion of trying to cling to power after losing the 2022 elections to his opponent, Lula da Silva.

The former president stresses his innocence, and refused to answer questions directed to him during a half-hour investigation on Thursday at a federal police station in Brasilia.

“No one attempted a coup in Brazil,” Bolsonaro said in a statement to CBN Recife radio station. “It is the greatest truth.”

Yesterday's demonstration is a test of Bolsonaro's popularity more than a year after he lost the elections (Reuters)

On January 8, 2023 - a week after Silva's inauguration - thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the headquarters of the presidential palace, parliament, and the Supreme Court, causing serious damage to them.

Bolsonaro, who was in the United States at the time, denied any responsibility, hinted at the possibility that the demonstrators were not his supporters, and called in yesterday's demonstration for the release of dozens of participants in those events.

Misinformation campaign

But investigators point to undemocratic practices by Bolsonaro that continued for months, starting with a plan to cast doubt on the reliability of the voting system with a “disinformation campaign” that preceded the elections, seeking to “justify military intervention” if he loses the election.

Police say Bolsonaro prepared a draft presidential decree that would declare a state of emergency, call new elections and suspend Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

It also published a video recording of a meeting held in July 2022, in which Bolsonaro appears screaming, insulting, and ordering his government ministers to help him undermine the reliability of the electoral system.

Bolsonaro (68 years old) faces several investigations, including suspicion of forging vaccination certificates against (Covid-19) and the alleged embezzlement of gifts he received from foreign countries.

Source: Agencies