Containment: Brazilian justice will investigate a demonstration in which Bolsonaro participated

A judge of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil on Tuesday asked for an investigation to determine whether "criminal" acts were committed during a pro-military and anti-containment demonstration in Brasilia, in which President Jair Bolsonaro participated.

Read also: Brazil: Bolsonaro advocates deconfinement this week

This judge, Alexandre de Moraes, responded to a request from the office of the Attorney General of the Republic which did not mention the Brazilian president but "several citizens, including federal deputies". In a notice published Tuesday, Alexandre de Moraes described the rally as "very serious" because it undermined "the democratic rule of law in Brazil and its republican institutions". On Sunday, Jair Bolsonaro went to support protesters who, in defiance of the confinement rules, had gathered in front of the army headquarters in Brasilia to demand military intervention and the closure of the Congress.

"We don't want to negotiate anything," launched the far-right president, standing in the back of a pick-up truck, to some 600 agglutinated protesters and demanding the application of a law that imposed the closure in 1968 of Congress and removed many constitutional rights. Brazilian politicians reacted on Sunday to the intervention of the head of state who had at no time questioned the demands of the demonstrators. Such claims "are unconstitutional," said the Supreme Court judge, deeming it "essential" to verify the existence of possible forms of funding for undemocratic acts.

Former army captain Jair Bolsonaro constantly criticizes congressional leaders, governors and mayors who defend the policy of containment and social distancing aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus, which has left more than 2,500 dead and more than 40,000 infected in the country. The Brazilian president also called on Monday for a lifting this week of containment measures, while the peak of the pandemic has not yet been reached, according to health authorities.