Thousands of people protest on the anniversary of the military coup in Brazil

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Brazil Sunday on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the coup that created more than two decades of military rule. The protesters chanted "never again dictatorship" and slogans against President Jair Bolsonaro, who ordered the commemoration of the date.

Some 2,000 people gathered in the central square of Cinelandia, in Rio de Janeiro, while in Sao Paulo, a few hundred people gathered in the popular park of Ibirapuera to protest against the dictatorship of 1964-1985.

The demonstrations were triggered by the order recently made by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro to the Defense Forces to commemorate "appropriately" the overthrow of President Joao Goulart.

Nearly 1,000 noisy protesters in Brasilia chanted slogans against Bolsonaro, a former army captain and flawless admirer of the country's former dictators, shouting "Bolsonaro out".

Prohibition of commemorations reversed

The protests took place a day after a judge of the court of appeal overturned the decision of another judge to ban the commemorations requested by Bolsonaro.

Appeal Judge Maria do Carmo Cardoso accepted the government's argument that Brazilian democracy was strong enough to support "a pluralism of ideas".

Bolsonaro, who is on a three-day visit to Israel, is the country's first president since the restoration of democracy in 1985 to publicly extol the military regime, although he says his power was not a "coup d'etat".

Since taking office, Bolsonaro has had a favorable speech for military dictators in the 1970s and 1980s in Latin America, like Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay and Chile in Chile, Augusto Pinochet.

At least 434 people were killed or disappeared in Brazil during the 21 years of dictatorship, well below the 30,000 deaths in Argentina and 3,200 or more in Chile during their respective periods of right-wing military rule.

But unlike its neighbors in South America, Brazil has not sued military officials for crimes of the regime's era, leaving the events of this dark period unresolved.