They refuse the result of the presidential election. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched Wednesday, November 2 through Brazil to demand military intervention against Luiz Inacio Lula (Workers’ Party), elected president of the country three days earlier. Rallies of this type have notably taken place in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Brasilia, the capital.
“Lula, thief, your place is in prison”, protesters in Rio, for example, chanted in front of the city’s military command. In Sao Paulo, thousands of Bolsonarists demonstrated in front of the military command of the Southeast, demanding an intervention of the army to cries of “federal intervention immediately”noted an AFP journalist.
Marcha Intervenção Federal a caminho a ponte Hercilio luz em Florianópolis. pic.twitter.com/SSguAmTFZD
— M.❤ (@amykaellasc) November 2, 2022
The mobilization was particularly important in the state of Santa Catarina, where the far-right incumbent president achieved his best score (nearly 70% of the vote). Some protesters also said they did not recognize the result of the election, calling it “fraudulent”. Attacks that echo the speech of defeat delivered Tuesday, November 1 by Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro calls for unblocking the roads
Early Wednesday afternoon, no violence had been reported in the country, which was celebrating a public holiday. But half of States of the country were still reporting blockages on some of their highways. Roadblocks organized the day after the presidential election by supporters of Bolsonaro, unhappy with the outcome of the ballot.
The number of roadblocks, however, fell by almost half on Wednesday. According to the Federal Highway Police (PRF), some 150 roadblocks were recorded, compared to 271 the day before. In total, these blockages affected fifteen states in the country, against almost all on Tuesday. In some places, the police had to use water cannons and stun grenades to free the main roads, the newspaper said.
In a video posted Tuesday on Twitter, Jair Bolsonaro finally called on the demonstrators to “unblock the roads”. According to the PRF, quoted by the Brazilian daily Globe on its site (article in Portuguese), more than 2,000 motorists have already been fined for blocking roads across Brazil.