The Amazon burns: with Caetano Veloso at the head, thousands of people marched in Brazil

Thousands of people, including singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso and other important artists, politicians and intellectuals from Brazil, paraded Sunday on the iconic Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro for the defense of the Amazon and against the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro.

With banners that read "Burn the fascists, not the forest" or "How much is the air you breathe?", protesters have occupied one of the most emblematic beaches of Cariocas to protest the fires that spread rapidly in the Amazon rainforest.

Veloso, one of the creators of the tropicalist movement, said in statements to EFE who joined the demonstrations to fight "by nature" and against "the decisions made by the current government". The artist also described as "unacceptable" the "official position" of Bolsonaro in the environment.

"I am here to raise the flag of environmental preservation.Fires in the Amazon have emphasized the importance of doing so," Veloso said.

Also present at the event were American journalist Glenn Greenwald and former Environment Minister Carlos Minc, who called Bolsonaro and the current portfolio holder, Ricardo Salles, "real exterminators of the sustainable future ".

At the rhythm of drums and samba, protesters marched through the streets of Ipanema shouting slogans such as "Save the Amazon", "Outside Bolsonaro and Salles" and "Bolsonero", making allusion to the Roman emperor Nero and the great fire of ancient Rome

Demonstrations multiply

This Sunday was the third consecutive day of acts that defend the preservation of the world's largest rainforest.

In addition to Rio, demonstrations took place in the cities of Belo Horizont, Piracicaba, in the interior of Sao Paulo, and Porto Velho, regional capital of the Amazon state of Rondonia, one of the most affected by fire and who counts since Saturday. with the strengthening of military troops to fight fires.

According to data released this week by the National Institute of Space Research (INPE), the Amazon region has recorded more than half of the 71,497 forest fires detected in Brazil between January and August this year, a higher figure of 83% than previously recorded. Period 2018.

The fire is advancing