In several Brazilian cities, numerous demonstrators are rallying against the mismanagement of President Jair Bolsonaro, especially with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic

Brazil's left takes to the streets against Bolsonaro 

photo_camera AFP/ MICHAEL DANTAS - Demonstrators against the government of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro protest during an anti-fascist march called "Amazonas for Democracy" in Manaus, Brazil

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the streets of Brazil were filled with demonstrators repudiating the way the current government has handled the situation against the pandemic. The various left-wing groups called on demonstrators to gather in the most important cities of the country, under the cry "out with Bolsonaro", demanding more effective vaccination from the national government, the effective payment of Bolsonaro's aid and in favour of the candidacy of former president Lula da Silva. 

REUTERS/AMANDA PEROBELLI  -   La gente asiste a una protesta contra el racismo y el fascismo en Sao Paulo, Brasil, el 14 de junio de 2020

During the 14 months of the health crisis, protests against the president have taken place via social networks and on the balconies of buildings, and there have been a number of pots and pans against Bolsonaro. During the pandemic, the left has rejected mobilisation as a protest measure, for fear of increasing the number of infections and thus preventing the spread of the virus, which to date has claimed the lives of thousands of Brazilians. They have largely avoided street protests as a form of demonstration, also to distinguish themselves from Bolsonaro's followers, who during the pandemic have mobilised to reject the confinement measures established by some governors and the Supreme Court of Justice, carrying out mass gatherings of people, without the use of masks.

PHOTO/ISAC NOBREGA - El presidente brasileño Jair Bolsonaro

The political organisations in charge of the call were the Workers' Party (Lula da Silva's party), the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) and the social movements "People Without Fear" and the "Black Coalition for Rights". They gathered in more than a hundred cities across the country and especially in the city of Rio de Janeiro, since last weekend President Bolsonaro took a walk with his followers in the city that is known as the cradle of 'bolsonarismo'. 

Former president Lula currently has two convictions overturned, and this may allow him to be a presidential candidate for the 2022 elections. In recent weeks Lula has risen in the polls and has been one of the most vocal voices denouncing Bolsonaro's mismanagement, which at the moment has accumulated more than 460,000 deaths. The opening of a commission of enquiry in the Senate against Bolsonaro's management during the pandemic has determined the delay in the purchase of vaccines, while supporting the production of some ineffective drugs for COVID-19. Another of the findings of the commission was that the government delayed the purchase of oxygen tanks to provide hospitals, specifically in the state of Amazonas, as well as promoting chloroquine without any scientific evidence. 

AFP/SERGIO LIMA  -   El expresidente de Brasil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Former president Lula posted on social networks a message about the demonstrations that were held in Brazil this weekend; "Bolsonaro when he goes out on the street needs a thousand policemen doing security. Come to talk that I'm afraid to go out on the street?! He who is with half of what I have in the polls is that you have to be afraid. Soon he will only be able to visit the barracks and meet with the militiamen....... Bolsonaro has never worked in his life, he went to the Army, they kicked him out, he spent 30 years as a congressman and now he is in the Presidency of the Republic giving himself a pay rise.... Do you think I'm afraid of him? I was born in the street, my political life is in the street", wrote the ex-president. Among the demands of the mobilised left are the removal of Bolsonaro as president of Brazil, an increase in the pace of the vaccination process, an increase in the amount of financial aid from around 30 euros to around 95 euros per month. 

Latin America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.

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