Sao Paulo
AP
–
The Brazilian held protests in all 26 states and federal districts on Sunday against the possibility of pardoning from former president Jea Bolsonaro and his allies, convicted of attempted coups.
Calls for demonstrations increased after the House on Tuesday passed constitutional amendments and passed constitutional amendments that would make it difficult for criminal cases against lawmakers to arrest or launch. The measure is now heading towards the Senate.
The following day, the House voted to quickly track a bill backed by right-wing opposition lawmakers who could pardon his closest allies and hundreds of supporters convicted of their role in the January 2023 uprising.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months on September 11 for trying to maintain power after losing his 2022 re-elect bid. He is the first former president to be convicted of trying to overturn elections in Latin America’s largest economy. Bolsonaro denied any misconduct.
Some of Brazil’s most well-known artists helped organize and promote Sunday’s demonstrations.
Caetano Veloso, Chicoburg and Gilberto Gill, who ignored censorship during the military dictatorship of the 1960s, were reunited to protest in the Copacabana district of Rio de Janeiro.
“I was furious at the news that many agents voted in favor of the Shield Act for themselves and their colleagues,” Veloso told Brazilian news outlet UoL in an interview released on Saturday. “I think this, along with the coup plotter’s proposal for pardon, was equated with the majority of Brazilians who don’t want to experience these things.”
Rio de Janeiro-born superstar Anitta also criticized the proposal in a video shared on Instagram. “People are the people who shape the politics of the country. We have the right and duty to hold politicians accountable. After all, we vote and they work for the population,” she said.
Dulce Oliveira, a 53-year-old teacher who attended the Brasilia demonstration, reflects Anitta’s digging. “This protest is important because people need to show what we want, because they are there to express our needs, not ourselves,” she said.
Brazilian actor Wagner Mula attended the protest at Salvador in Bahia. Talking to the crowd from the top of the truck, he said he was not going to talk about the legislative proposal. Instead, he emphasized that “this extraordinary moment in Brazil’s democracy serves as an example of the whole world.”
Sunday’s protest was organized by artists and left-wing groups who have struggled to mobilize large crowds compared to the right. On September 7th, thousands of supporters of his supporters gathered in his defense ahead of the Supreme Court trial of Bolsonaro.
Polls show that the country remains deeply divided through Bolsonaro.
The majority support his beliefs and incarceration, but a significant portion of the population still supports him. According to a DataFolha poll released on September 16, 50% of respondents said they should jail Bolsonaro, 43% said they disagree, and 7% refused to answer. The survey interviewed 2,005 people across the country with a 2% point error.
