Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will attend a massive demonstration organized in his support in Sao Paulo on Sunday, enough to test his popularity amid a scandal surrounding suspicions of an “attempted coup.”
Organizers hope to bring at least 500,000 people together on Avenida Paulista, the landmark of Latin America's largest metropolis, from 3:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT).
In several videos published on social networks in the past few days, the right-wing extremist ex-president (2019-2022) called on his supporters for a “peaceful rally in defense of the democratic constitutional state.”
However, he is precisely the target of a wide-ranging investigation into an alleged “coup attempt” to avert his 2022 election defeat to current leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
On February 8, he was banned from leaving Brazilian territory following a large-scale police operation targeting former close associates, including ex-ministers and senior military officials, and carrying out dozens of searches and arrests.
Jair Bolsonaro, who says he is a victim of “persecution,” remained silent on Thursday before federal police investigators who summoned him in connection with the affair. He followed the advice of his lawyers, who said they had not had access to certain documents in the file.
But the former army captain loudly declared that he wanted to “defend himself against the accusations” he faced during the demonstration in Sao Paulo.
He is also the subject of further investigations, in particular on suspicion of forging COVID-19 vaccination certificates or allegedly misappropriating gifts from abroad, including jewelry offered by Saudi Arabia.
Pastors and parliamentarians
Despite these scandals, Jair Bolsonaro is still seen as the leader of the opposition and continues to be revered by his most ardent supporters.
Despite being declared unelectable until 2030 last year because of disinformation, the ex-president wants to use his influence to elect allies in local elections next October, in a country that is still very polarized.
On Avenida Paulista, apart from the influx of his supporters, it should be possible to estimate the extent of his support based on the presence of opposition political figures.
“If there is a lot of support, he will be able to say that people are behind him. Otherwise it will lose all legitimacy,” André Rosa, a political scientist at the University of Brasilia (UDF), told AFP.
One of Bolsonaro's lawyers, Fábio Wajngarten, said Thursday he hoped to see “500,000 to 700,000” protesters, including more than 100 lawmakers.
Also expected are the governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, a former minister in the Bolsonaro government, and the city's mayor, Ricardo Nunes.
“I’m flying to Brazil on the 25th. It’s going to be gigantic!”, published on the social network
The demonstration is being organized, among others, by Pastor Silas Malafaia, who is very influential among the millions of Brazilians of the Protestant faith, one of the bases of the Bolsonarist electorate.
“In yellow and green”
Jair Bolsonaro asked his supporters to come to Sunday's demonstration “in yellow and green,” the colors of Brazil, but “without bringing signs or banners against anyone.”
During his term in office, many demonstrations in his support were characterized by slogans against Brazilian institutions, particularly the Supreme Court.
It was a judge of this Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes, who authorized the police operation as part of the investigation into the “attempted coup”.
On January 8, 2023, a week after Lula's inauguration, thousands of Jair Bolsonaro's supporters looted places of power in Brasilia, including the Supreme Court.
On social networks, many Internet users, especially evangelicals, announced their intention to go to Avenida Paulista with Israeli flags.
In doing so, they show that they do not agree with the statements made by President Lula, who last Sunday compared the Israeli offensive in Gaza to the Holocaust, thereby triggering a diplomatic crisis with Israel.