Brazilians take to the streets against Bolsonaro

More and more people in Brazil are dissatisfied with the right-wing government's crisis management: Demonstrators are demanding more vaccinations and would like to chase the vaccine skeptic Bolsonaro out of office.

Rio de Janeiro - Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro's Corona policy is meeting with increasing criticism: Once again, thousands of Brazilians took to the streets against the government of the right-wing head of state over the weekend.

During demonstrations across the country on Saturday, they called for an impeachment trial against Bolsonaro, more vaccinations against the coronavirus and economic aid in the pandemic, as the news portal "G1" reported.

Protests broke out in at least 27 provincial capitals, including Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Recife and Salvador, as well as in the capital Brasília.

After protests in January, May, June and early July, this was the fifth time that people across the country took to the streets against Bolsonaro.

Trade unions and left-wing groups called for the demonstrations.

Banners read: “Bolsonaro - corrupt genocide.

Impeachment now ”and“ We want vaccinations, he bribes.

Away with Bolsonaro ”.

For the most part, the demonstrations remained peaceful.

In São Paulo, however, there was a fringe riot and demonstrators smashed the windows of shops.

Approval for Bolsonaro's administration is falling more and more.

At the beginning of the month, 51 percent of those polled rejected the president's policy in a survey by the datafolha polling institute.

That was the worst result since Bolsonaro took office in 2019.

The government of President Bolsonaro played down the pandemic from the start and braced itself against tough exit restrictions, citing the economic consequences.

Most recently, Bolsonaro also questioned the point of vaccinations.

A parliamentary committee of inquiry is now examining Bolsonaro's crisis management in the pandemic.

Brazil is one of the countries hardest hit by the corona pandemic.

So far, almost 20 million people have contracted the virus.

Every day, an average of around 50,000 new infections are added.

Almost 550,000 patients have died in connection with Covid-19 - only the United States has more deaths.

In Brazil, more than 130 million doses of vaccine have been administered since the nationwide vaccination campaign began in January.

About 40 percent of adult Brazilians have received a single dose, and around 17 percent are fully vaccinated.

In view of the lack of vaccination doses, however, the Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro and other important cities recently again suspended their first vaccinations against the corona virus.

However, the protesters' criticism on Saturday went beyond the corona crisis management.

Among other things, the protests were directed against the privatization of public services.

People also demanded more efforts to fight hunger and environmental degradation, as well as respect for the rights of indigenous peoples.

dpa