(Sao Paulo) The Workers’ Party (PT) of Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday denounced the murder of one of its activists by a supporter – also killed in the exchange of gunfire — of President Jair Bolsonaro, in Foz-do-Iguaçu (south).
Posted at 4:36 p.m.
Lula lamented that a family “lost a father and a husband as a result of hate speech encouraged by an irresponsible president”.
PT activist Marcelo Arruda was celebrating his 50th birthday at a PT event when an officer from a penitentiary supporting President Bolsonaro burst in with a weapon.
“Around 11:30 p.m., an uninvited and unknown man drove up in a car, with a woman and a baby, pointed his gun at those present and claimed he would be back to kill everyone,” said a witness, Aluízio Palmar, in an audio message sent to AFP.
When shortly afterwards the man, later identified as Jorge Guaranho, returned, Marcelo Arruda took a gun he had in his car and shot the attacker, who also shot him, both dying in the process. exchange of gunfire, according to witnesses.
A “heroic gesture”
For the PT, Marcelo Arruda had a “heroic gesture” which “saved many lives”.
The police believe that the two people died as a result of “an argument”, according to the daily Folha de S. Paulo.
“All people fanaticized by this project of death and destruction can become aggressors or assassins”, affirmed for its part the PT, alerting on “the increase in political violence in the country” three months before the presidential election.
Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has facilitated access to arms in Brazil since coming to power. On Saturday, hundreds of people demonstrated in Brasilia in support of the right to obtain it.
According to a survey by the benchmark institute Datafolha, Lula is credited with 47% of voting intentions, against 28% for Mr. Bolsonaro.