Day of high-risk pro-Bolsonaro protests in Brazil

Protests in support of Jair Bolsonaro are planned for Tuesday on the occasion of a high-risk national holiday in hundreds of cities in Brazil, but also of the opposition anxious to frustrate the president with a show of force.

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The turn Independence Day will take this year is totally unpredictable.

The president, whom his tumble in the polls pushes to remobilize his base, promised that “

gigantic

”

crowds

would come to support him.

Institutional crisis

But his opponents will also take to the streets to shout “

Fora Bolsonaro!

"("

Outside Bolsonaro!

"), Worried about the threats posed to democracy by the far-right president, who opened a serious institutional crisis by declaring war on the Supreme Court.

Important security measures will be in place in large cities, primarily in Brasilia, then in Sao Paulo, in order to avoid any overflow.

Processions of Bolsonarists and anti-Bolsonaro should not meet.

At least on paper.

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It is in these two cities that the former parachutist called on his supporters to mobilize en masse and give voice.

Bolsonarist social networks have beaten the recall of troops.

Hundreds of coaches of Bolsonaro sympathizers are due to converge on Sao Paulo.

In the morning, a brief ceremony is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. (12:00 p.m. GMT), when the Brazilian flag will be hoisted at the Alvorada Palace, the residence of the Head of State.

He should then go to the demonstrators gathered on the emblematic Esplanade of the Ministries of Brasilia.

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At the end of this esplanade, the Place des Trois Powers, where the Parliament and the Supreme Court are located, will be completely sealed off, to prevent acts of vandalism inspired by the invasion of the Capitol in the United States last January.

But it is the afternoon in Sao Paulo, the largest metropolis in Brazil, that Jair Bolsonaro hopes to gather the greatest number of supporters: he announced that he was counting on “

two million people

” on Paulista Avenue, where he should deliver his most heated speech.

The main anti-Bolsonaro procession is due to leave three kilometers away, at Vale do Anhangabau, in the city center.

Last Friday, the far-right president did not hesitate to say that this day of mobilization would constitute an “

ultimatum

” for the Supreme Court.

On Saturday, he went even further, raising the possibility of an

institutional

"

rupture

".

On Monday, more than 150 intellectuals and political figures from 26 countries, including the former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero, the American philosopher Noam Chomsky or Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of rebellious France, denounced in an open letter a "

imminent threat to Brazilian democracy

”.

“He knows that the success of the protests could give him a break.

"

Geraldo Monteiro, political scientist at Rio State University.

In Brazil, security specialists fear in particular the presence of armed military police during demonstrations.

According to a poll published on Sunday by the daily O Globo, 30% of these police officers intend to take to the streets on Tuesday, even if the regulations forbid them to take part in political demonstrations, including during their days of leave.

Last week, Jair Bolsonaro sharply criticized judges and state governors who plan to punish police officers present to support him during the September 7 parades.

“

It is a crime (to ban police demonstrations), worthy of a dictatorship.

They want the movement to be less important, while a plainclothes policeman on leave can help to ensure the security of the event,

”he said.

Badly in the polls, where he is largely left behind by the left-wing ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the voting intentions for the 2022 election, the ex-army captain is playing his part. all Tuesday.

"

He knows that the success of the demonstrations could give him a break,

" said Geraldo Monteiro, political scientist at Rio State University.

Jair Bolsonaro is also targeted by several investigations by the Supreme Court, in particular for the dissemination of false information.

In the Senate, a Commission of Inquiry has been scrutinizing for several months its management of the pandemic, deemed chaotic by specialists, in a country where more than 580,000 people have died from Covid-19.