An event commemorating the arrest of the former president () took over the sidewalk and part of the runway on Avenida Paulista, close to Masp (São Paulo Art Museum) this Sunday afternoon (23).
The event called the day before by left-wing organizations started timidly, also hampered because the avenue was exceptionally open to cars due to the Fuvest tests being held on the same date.
Gaining support from pedestrians attracted by the format of the demonstration, a samba circle, the act caused cars to slow down and some drivers sought detours onto parallel streets. In the center of the group there was a giant inflatable doll of Bolsonaro characterized as a prisoner.
On the opposite side of the avenue, an act against the government, organized by members of the Novo party, also had an inflatable doll, but of the PT member in a striped outfit. Right-wing protesters say they are against the way Bolsonaro’s arrest took place, but claim that the act was not motivated by this and that it was already foreseen.
Bolsonaro was preventively arrested this Saturday morning (22), in Brasília, at the (Supreme Federal Court).
President of UNE (National Union of Students), Bianca Borges, 26, said that the entity she heads is responsible for calling for the mobilization of the left. Affiliated with PC do B, she stated that the arrest materializes the outcome of the frustrated coup attempt by Bolsonaro supporters.
In the right-wing protest, the organizer who presented herself as a pre-candidate for state deputy for Novo, Catharina Donato, 34, states that she disagrees with the arrest of the former president because she considers that there was partiality in the Supreme Court’s decision. She also claims that Lula should not have been elected after corruption scandals such as mensalão and petrolão.
Bolsonaro has been under house arrest since August 4th. In his decision for preventive detention in a closed regime, the minister pointed to an attempted violation of the electronic ankle monitor, reported by monitoring, and the risk of flight to the United States embassy, aggravated by a vigil to be held on Saturday night near his residence. In a video, Bolsonaro admitted to a district agent that
“I used a hot iron, a hot iron… curiosity,” said the former president. He explained that he used a soldering iron, a pointed tool that reaches high temperatures and allows metals to be melted.
The magistrate’s measure comes after other escapes abroad by Bolsonaro deputies (PL-SP) and (PL-RJ), both convicted by the court, as well as (PL-SP), son of the former president who operates in the USA so that the Donald Trump government can sabotage Brazil.
In a note before the release of the video and the report from the DF Penitentiary Administration Secretariat, the arrest was based on the holding of a “prayer vigil”, guaranteed by the Constitution, and that Moraes’ determination caused “deep perplexity”.
Lawyers Celso Vilardi and Paulo Bueno also stated that they will “present the appropriate appeals”.
