(Sao Paulo) Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets Thursday in Sao Paulo to “defend democracy”, a movement supported by lawyers, trade unions and employers’ organizations in the face of attacks by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on the institutions.
Posted at 1:13 p.m.
Less than two months before the presidential election, the head of state continues to question the reliability of the electronic ballot box system, fueling fears that he will not recognize the result in the event of defeat.
“We should think about our future […] but we are obliged to concentrate our efforts to prevent backsliding”, declared at the University of Sao Paulo its rector, Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior, to open a gathering which brought together more than 800 jurists, business leaders, members of trade unions and NGOs.
It was marked by the reading in public of the “Letter to Brazilian men and women in defense of the democratic state of law”, a petition put online two weeks ago and signed by more than 950,000 people.
“We are living in a moment of great peril for democratic normality, of risk for institutions, with insinuations of non-respect for the election results”, can we read in the text, which does not cite Jair Bolsonaro by name.
This letter has also been read in a video by famous artists such as actress Fernanda Montenegro, pop star Anitta or icons of Brazilian song Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Maria Bethania and Milton Nascimento.
Outside the university, thousands of protesters carried banners against Bolsonaro.
Some were even disguised as electronic ballot boxes, regularly criticized by the far-right president, who evokes “fraud” without providing proof.
Demonstrations also took place in universities in other Brazilian cities, such as Rio de Janeiro or Brasilia.
Another letter “In defense of democracy and justice” was also written and read in public on Thursday, at the initiative of powerful employers’ organizations such as the Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo (Fiesp) or the Federation of Banks (Febraban ).
A movement seen as a reversal by many observers, the business community having supported Jair Bolsonaro during his election in 2018.
“This is an unprecedented moment, where capital and labor are united in defense of democracy,” said José Carlos Dias, president of the Fiesp, on Thursday when reading the letter.
Widely outpaced in the polls by the left-wing ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), Jair Bolsonaro has never ceased to be ironic about this movement. “No need to sign a small letter to be a Democrat,” he said on Monday.