Hundreds of Brazilians defied the pandemic and came to demonstrate in support of and against President Jair Bolsonaro

The coronavirus pandemic in Brazil, a country that adds more than 14.6 million confirmed cases and 403,000 deaths, did not stop thousands of protesters from taking to the streets on Saturday, during the celebrations of the International Labor Day, to support or protest against the government.

Most of the mobilizations, carried out with mergers and caravans, were in favor of the president, Jair Bolsonaro, one of the leaders most skeptical of the severity of the pandemic and now target of a parliamentary commission of inquiry (ICC) installed this week in the Senate which aims to analyze complaints against the management of the crisis.

The central Avenida Paulista, epicenter of the great celebrations of conquests and popular demonstrations, brought together hundreds of people with posters to defend the far-right leader, some calling for a military intervention directed by him against the judicial and legislative powers.

Access by vehicle to the tourist and emblematic beach of Copacabana, in Rio de Janeiro, was blocked by another group of supporters who gathered in the same place where non-governmental organizations and activists had paid tribute to the more than 400,000 victims of Covid-19 two days earlier.

In the Federal District of Brasilia, 5,000 other followers of the sovereign, According to the organizers of the caravan, they mobilized in the streets of the administrative center known as Esplanada dos Ministerios.

At Recife, capital of Pernambuco and one of the main metropolises of the North-East, Avenida Boa Viagem, which borders the beach of the same name, has received a large number of automobiles, driven by giant sound trucks, then drifted towards the Marco Zero, downtown.

Other capitals, such as Belem, in the Amazon; Belo Horizonte (South East), Native Yes Salvador (Northeast), the recorded concentrations, as well as the large intermediate cities such as Campinas and Limeira, in Sao Paulo, and Ipatinga (Minas Gerais), responding to the call “I authorize the president.”

The name of the marches, called for Labor Day, is iinterpreted as a response to the “signal” from his supporters that Bolsonaro has called in certain speeches to “take action” in the face of political warAlthough the government has always refrained from giving details and dodging to avoid commenting on this situation.

Bolsonaro, a former reserve captain and nostalgic for the military dictatorship that ruled the country between 1964 and 1985, He flew over the caravan that took place in the Brazilian capital aboard a military helicopter, without however greeting his supporters as he did during recent protests.

Acts against the government

As is traditional every year, however In smaller numbers due to restrictions imposed in various regions to avoid containing the advance of the coronavirus, union centers have called for various mobilizations to celebrate May 1 and, incidentally, to protest against the executive power.

Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Salvador organized events in which social movements made their voices heard against the lack of vaccines which delayed the schedule of the National Vaccination Plan (PNI).

In Salvador, for example, the tourist point of view Farol de Barra was surrounded by crosses in homage to the victims of covid-19, while in the center of town, trade unionists wore black body bags to remember the dead from the pandemic.

“Bolsonaro genocida“,”Bolsonaro exit“,”Impeachment ya ‘, “Vaccine now “ and demands to break the patents of immunizers in the hands of private pharmaceutical companies were some of the slogans on the protesters’ posters.

With information from EFE

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