Anti-Bolsonaro protests in 6 Brazilian capitals have low turnout

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The demonstrations held on Sunday morning, September 12, calling for the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro, were marked by a low public turnout.

Demonstrations were also planned for 10 other capitals in the afternoon, such as São Paulo and Brasília.

Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro gathered the largest contingents. In the Rio de Janeiro capital, the group began to concentrate in Copacabana at 10 AM. On the VPR car, a poster showed President Jair Bolsonaro and ex-president Lula behind bars, breaching the truce announced to attract leftist representatives. Organizers had abandoned the motto “Neither Bolsonaro nor Lula” and decided to focus only on the President’s impeachment.

Leftist party PDT declared its support for the demonstration, but it was not formally joined by other major leftist groups, such as PT and PSOL. Nor does this truce seem to have been accepted by the activists present at the demonstrations, as became clear in Copacabana.

The few protesters from leftist parties attending the demonstration against President Bolsonaro in Rio stood next to the right-wing MBL car. Center-right movement and party flags were waved side by side on the waterfront. Closer to the VPR car, a large banner reinforced rejection of both the President and Lula.

Entrepreneur João Amoêdo, presidential candidate for the Novo party in 2018, was at the event in Rio. Asked about the dispute between the two sound cars, which had been advocating different causes, he sided with the MBL, which “forgot” Lula and focused on the impeachment agenda.

“The agenda of Brazilians is not the elections, the third route, nothing like that,” he said. “We must understand that building a better Brazil depends on Bolsonaro leaving. Unless we completely prioritize this, we will have greater difficulty in this task, which is difficult enough.”