Crowds of protesters have taken to the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities to demand the impeachment of president Jair Bolsonaro, who they blame for more than half a million coronavirus deaths.
Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza e Maranhão. É o povo nas ruas pedindo comida no prato, vacina no braço e Fora Genocida! Vamos continuar nas ruas!#3JForaBolsonaro
? @MidiaNINJA, @vivireispsol e @uneoficial pic.twitter.com/F6VepX1qLH
— Gleisi Hoffmann (@gleisi) July 3, 2021
Tens of thousands of protesters have come out as part of the ‘Bolsonaro Out’ campaign, which aims to bolster support for the petition presented before the Chamber of Deputies to initiate a political trial against him, and his impeachment. Calls for Bolsonaro’s impeachment have only intensified after allegations that members of his government had tried to illegally profit from the purchase of Covid vaccines.
The Supreme Court even ordered an investigation into whether Bolsonaro had avoided taking any action after being alerted of high-level corruption involving the procurement of millions of Covid vaccines from Bharat Biotech, the Indian pharma company manufacturing Covaxin. As per official records, above 522,000 Brazilians passed away due to Covid-19 in Brazil. The country fairs second only to the US.
Many protesters waved Brazil’s yellow and green flag during demonstrations. The flag is a symbol often used by Bolsonaro’s far-right movement and party. Potesters are using the flag in an effort to reclaim the flag from his followers. Anti-Bolsonaro protests have taken place in many of Brazil’s most important cities, including Belém, Recife, São Paulo and Brasília.
Protests have even taken place outside the country in cities such as London, Barcelona and Dublin. “Vaccines in the arm” and “Food on the plate” were common slogans repeated throughout the protests. The demonstrations also demanded employment, education and emergency aid.
https://twitter.com/MidiaNINJA/status/1411440163058819072
Representatives of indigenous communities were also part of protests. On Saturday slogans about the deforestation of the Amazon, policies that destroy the environment, demands for preserving the environment, and about the project of Law 490, which if approved would nullify the right of native peoples to remain in demarcated territories, were common.
Read: “We want hospitals, not new strains”: Bolsonaro’s mishandling of the Pandemic
