Pastor Silas Malafaia, one of the main organizers of the act in defense of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) last Sunday (7), stated that he was “outraged” with the exhibition of a US flag during the demonstration held on Paulista Avenue, in São Paulo.
The event, held to coincide with Brazil’s Independence Day, gathered pockets and opposing politicians to the Lula government.
“My desire was to ask to start [a bandeira]. These people have no notion, ”Malafaia told the newspaper S.Paulo Folha. “I’m 100% against. It seems that I was guessing that Globo would take a big photo with the flag [norte-americana].”
“It may have been a frame,” says pastor
After the initial criticism, Malafaia even raised the possibility that the flag was placed by political opponents.
“My record is falling. Who guarantees that it was not people on the left who planted it there to demoralize the event? It may even be a pocket that does not think. But it may also be a frame of them. They are terrible,” said the pastor, in an audio sent to the newspaper column.
He stated that if new demonstrations occur under his coordination, this kind of situation will not be repeated. “I want to see who will have the courage to extend an American flag.”
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Eduardo Bolsonaro celebrates
In contrast to Malafaia’s reaction, federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), the former president’s son, publicly celebrated the display of the US flag and used his social networks to associate the gesture to the role of former President Donald Trump in what he called “rescue of freedoms and democracy”.
“Dictatorships are usually overthrown from the outside. It was a gesture of gratitude,” he wrote in X. Eduardo still attacked the press, saying that “Brazilians no longer need traditional media prostitutes,” and thanked the former president directly: “Thank you, President Donald J. Trump, for working to fix the mess left by his antecedent,” he published in capital letters.
