Tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets again yesterday in hundreds of locations across the country to demand the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro for his handling of the coronavirus health crisis, with the pandemic toll exceeding half a million deaths. Yesterday was the fourth day of protest organized since the end of May by left-wing parties and trade unions against the president, who is also the subject of an investigation into possible irregularities in the government's negotiation of vaccines.
While his opponents marched, Bolsonaro rode his motorcycle, accompanied by several ministers, through the streets of the capital Brasilia, greeting his supporters. In São Paulo, thousands of people gathered in the city center, holding up signs with words like "dismissal now" and "out of Bolsonaro".
As night fell, incidents broke out involving a group of protesters who attacked a bank before being dispersed by police with tear gas, according to television images.
In Rio too, thousands of people dressed in red and wearing masks marched shouting slogans like "Out of the corrupt criminal". In the city, as in the other 400 where the mobilizations took place, the demonstrators denounced the delay in the start of the vaccination campaign in Brazil and asked for more aid for the poor populations facing the pandemic.
The Brazilian press reported demonstrations in 20 of the 26 Brazilian states. Neither the organizers nor the authorities have released estimates on the total number of demonstrators.
