Tens of thousands of Brazilians take to the streets ‘for democracy’

AFP

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 10:56

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in major cities in Brazil last night. They pleaded for a prison sentence for former president Bolsonaro and his arrested supporters. This happened in response to the storming, the day before yesterday, of government buildings in the capital Brasilia.

The demonstrators, in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, among others, are mainly concerned with maintaining democracy in the country. “No amnesty for Bolsonaro,” they say, among other things. They want the former president and his supporters, the Bolsonaristas, to be punished for the extensive destruction of the parliament building, the supreme court and the presidential palace.

Amnestiewet

During the military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985, soldiers accused of war crimes were protected by an amnesty law. This allowed senior officials with a criminal past to remain in important positions.

Partly with that memory, people are now taking to the streets. “Protecting democracy” is the sentiment in slogans and on protest signs.

This is why direct punishment of the Bolsonaristas is important, according to Luis Felipe Miguel, professor of political science at the University of Brasilia: “That’s the lesson we should have learned after the military dictatorship. If you don’t act immediately, you can prevent tensions at the moment, but in the long term it will create instability,” he told the AP news agency.

Large demonstrations for democracy in Brazil

Both Brazilians on the street and President Lula called the storming an act of terrorism. Lula called the stormers fascists and fanatics, incited by Bolsonaro. The former president denies involvement and says he condemns the storming.

Thousands of his radical supporters had come to the center of Brasilia because they do not accept the swearing in of left-wing president Lula a week ago. More than 1500 stormers have now been arrested.

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