Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets to protest Jair Bolsonaro

Thousands of people took to the streets of several Brazilian capitals to protest against President Jair Bolsonaro for his handling of the pandemic in the country, which exceeded 500,000 dead from COVID-19 on Saturday and experts warn against the imminent arrival of a third wave.

From the start, many gathered this Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Recife, among 15 other capitals, to defend slogans such as “Get out Bolsonaro”, “Get out the genocide”, “Government of hunger and unemployment”, “Vaccinate now” and “Vaccine in the arm and food on the plate”.

“His position [Bolsonaro] in relation to covid and its denial are absurd. He’s already gone out of reality, out of common sense, he can’t explain himself, he’s so surreal, ”said Robert Almeida, a 50-year-old photographer who took part in the demonstration in Rio de Janeiro.

The events were called by the Brasil Popular and Povo Sem Medo (Fearless People) fronts, made up of dozens of social and labor organizations, backed by political parties and leaders, including former left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). .

Lula does not plan to participate in the events, however, informed his communications consultancy. Two days earlier, the ex-president had said he did not want his presence to dominate “A demonstration called by Brazilian society.”

People who came out to protest wore masks and expressed their concern about the progress of the pandemic as the country approaches a third wave of infections.

With half a million dead, Brazil is the second country in the ranking of the lethality of the pandemic.

The vaccination program began in January after pressure from Bolsonaro’s political rival, Joao Doria, who heads the São Paulo governorate, reached an agreement with the Chinese laboratory Sinovac to import the first doses of his Coronavac vaccine.

Since, only 11.5% of the Brazilian population (212 million) has been vaccinated.

A parliamentary commission is investigating the government’s response to the pandemic. Several leaders called Bolsonaro “genocidal” for his rejection of social isolation measures and the use of masks and the government’s delay in the vaccination campaign.

Brazil currently averages around 2,000 deaths per day from covid-19.

Despite this, the country this month hosted the football Copa América previously rejected by Colombia over social protests and Argentina over the pandemic.

With information from AFP

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