São Paulo (AP) – Brazilians held protests in all 26 states and federal districts on Sunday against possible pardons from former President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies who were convicted of attempting a coup.
The House of Commons passed a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that would make criminal proceedings against lawmakers even more difficult, calling for demonstrations. The measure is now heading to the Senate.
The next day, the House of Commons voted to pass the support of right-wing opposition MPs to amnesty to Bolsonro, whose closest allies and hundreds of supporters were convicted in the January 2023 uprising.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison on September 11 as he tried to remain in power after losing his re-election in 2022. He was the first former president to try to overturn elections in Latin America’s largest economy. Bolsonaro denied any misconduct.
Some of Brazil’s most prominent artists helped organize and promote Sunday’s demonstrations.
Music legends Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil violated censorship during the military dictatorship of the 1960s – reunited in the Copacabana community in Rio de Janeiro in protest.
Veloso told Brazilian news outlet UOL in an interview released on Saturday that he was angry that he and their colleagues voted for the shield law to be adopted by himself and their colleagues. ” “This is the proposal of the coup planner’s amnesty. I think I agree with most of the Brazilian population and they don’t want these things to go through. ”
The proposal was also criticized in a video shared by Rio-de-Jayloon-born superstar Anitta on Instagram. “The people are the people who shape the politics of the country. We have the right and responsibility to be responsible for politicians, after all, we vote for them to work for the good of the population,” she said.
Dulce Oliveira, a 53-year-old teacher, attended the demonstration in Brasilia, responded to Anitta’s indignation. “This kind of protest is important because people need to show them what we want because they are there to represent our needs, not their own,” she said.
Brazilian actor Wagner Moura participated in the protests in Bahia El Salvador. He said he said he would not talk about legislative proposals. Instead, he stressed that “in Brazilian democracy, this extraordinary moment is a role model for the whole world.”
Compared to the right, the protests on Sunday were organized by artists and left-wing groups. On September 7, his thousands of supporters gathered in defense ahead of the Supreme Court trial in Bolsonaro.
Polls show that the country still has profound differences on Bolsonaro.
Most support his beliefs and imprisonment, but a large population still supports him. According to a DataFolha poll released on September 16, 50% of respondents said Bolsonaro should be sentenced to jail, while 43% of respondents disagreed and 7% refused to answer. The survey interviewed 2,005 people nationwide with a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
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Eduardo François contributed to Brasilia’s coverage.
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