a day ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Backers of Brazil's ex-president Bolsonaro hold mass protest in Sao Paulo
Thousands of people streamed into central Sao Paulo for a demonstration on Sunday called by Brazil's ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, who is seeking 'justice' as he faces decades in prison for allegedly attempting a coup after losing the 2022 election.
Brazil needs all of us. It's for freedom, for justice,' the far-right Bolsonaro said on social media, urging his backers to march along Sao Paulo's Paulista Avenue, a key thoroughfare of Latin America's largest metropolis.
By mid-day on Sunday he posted the phrases 'Brazil above all! God above all!' along with a photograph showing
Bolsonaro before a throng of people clad in green and yellow, the colours of the Brazilian flag.
The demonstration follows a hectic several weeks for the embattled ex-leader.
During a key phase in his Supreme Court trial earlier this month, he denied involvement in an alleged coup plot to wrest back power after leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva narrowly beat Bolsonaro at the ballot box in October 2022.
The prosecutor's office said the plot, which envisaged the assassination of Lula and other authorities, failed to materialise due to lack of support from the senior military command.
