As Brazil recovers somehow from the assault on its democratic institutions on Sunday, a demonstration took place Tuesday evening in Westmount to denounce the attempts of the extreme right to undermine the biggest South American countries.
Brazilian police announced on Tuesday that they had released “for humanitarian reasons” nearly 600 people arrested on the sidelines of the assault on three official buildings in Brasília on Sunday. These would include the elderly, mothers with young children or people with health problems, authorities said.
Some 527 other suspects have been imprisoned, as the state prepares to prosecute those who allegedly organized and financed the invasion of three places of power – the Presidential Palace, the Congress and the Supreme Court of Brasília — Sunday. An attack on democratic institutions that caused turmoil across the country and caused significant material damage, including priceless works of art, including master paintings and statues.
“We must firmly fight terrorism, these putschists who want to establish an exceptional regime”, reacted Tuesday the judge of the Supreme Court Alexandre de Moraes during an official ceremony in Brasília.
It is in this tense political and social context that about thirty people gathered Tuesday evening, around 5:30 p.m., in front of the Consulate General of Brazil, located in Westmount, a few minutes walk from the Atwater metro station. At the initiative of the organization Coletivo Brasil-Montréal, the demonstrators braved the cold to attend a few speeches denouncing the recent attempt by the Brazilian far right to attack the country’s democracy, where the influence of former President Jair Bolsonaro remains strong despite the latter’s exile in the United States and the recent rise to power of progressive President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“Unfortunately, things are still going very badly in Brazil. With the election of Lula, we hoped that things would calm down, but this is not the case. Bolsonarism is still very much alive,” sighed at the To have to Alessandra Devulsky, who is the collective’s spokesperson.
The fragility of a democracy
The one who is also a lecturer in legal sciences at UQAM also believes that the association made by several for two days between Sunday’s event in Brazil and the assault on the American Capitol on January 6, 2021 is “very just,” Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro shared similar tactics to try to cling to power, including both claiming to have been victims of voter fraud.
“It is to put wood in the fire to incite his supporters to commit violent acts”, image Mme Devulsky, who indicates that the demonstration held on Tuesday “is a bit of a call for solidarity”. “We are trying to warn the international community that even if we win an election in a very clean and security, the possibility of bringing down someone democratically elected is very real”, she underlines.
Political scientist Luísa Turbino Torres, who specializes in South America and Brazilian social movements at Florida Atlantic University, hopes the invasion of three places of power in Brazil will be investigated. meticulous to understand all the ins and outs, as was the case on the sidelines of the assault on the Capitol in the United States.
“It is important to act towards the people who are behind this event” in order to show “that this type of action, which goes against the country and the democratic institutions, will not be tolerated”, adds the Brazilian-born expert. The latter is also delighted to see the speed with which the authorities of the South American country made hundreds of arrests on the sidelines of Sunday’s events, which she does not hesitate to describe as an “attempt to Rebellion “.
Despite the major political challenges facing Brazil, the demonstration held Tuesday evening in Westmount was meant to be a celebratory event, with the Brazilian people having “something to be proud of having defeated — at least temporarily — the most authoritarian president in our country since the 1980s,” notes Ms.me Devulsky, in reference to the arrival in office on the 1er January of “Lula” at the head of the country. Music and dance were thus on the menu to warm the hearts of the participants in this mobilization held in calm and good humor.
With Agence France-Presse