A thunderous crowd protested in Brazil Sunday against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and in support of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro carried an Israeli flag as he arrived as a way to show his opposition to Lula’s comparison of Israel’s attack in Gaza to the Holocaust, according to France 24.
Bolsonaro had called for the Sao Paulo protest amid allegations he plotted to stage a coup in 2022 after he lost power to Lula in an election.
He said the demonstration would be a “peaceful rally in defense of the democratic rule of law.”
Brazilian patriot friends take back Brazil. pic.twitter.com/Q1NskOd14v
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) February 25, 2024
Bolsonaro is a populist leader who has been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump, according to Reuters.
However, his passport has been taken away as the investigation into alleged coup plotting moves forward.
Bolsonaro on Sunday denied all of the allegations against him and said he was being “persecuted.”
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He also called for amnesty against those arrested in rioting that took place on Jan. 8, 2023, after Lula took power.
“A coup is putting tanks on the streets, weapons, conspiracy. That did not happen in Brazil,” Bolsonaro said.
“What I want is pacification. To erase the past and find a way for us to live in peace,” he said.
Bolsonaro attacked Lula’s recent remarks attacking Israel as “criminal.”
Earlier this month, Lula launched a diplomatic rift with Israel by rebuking Israel that he delivered at the African Union Summit, according to The New York Times.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments,” he said, before adding, “it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the comments “shameful” and said Lula “crossed a red line,” according to the Times of Israel.
The goal of the rally Sunday appeared to be to show Bolsonaro still holds political clout, Reuters said.
“He is not dead, he is competitive and there can be no injustice,” Congressman Marco Feliciano, who belongs to Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
Bolsonaro made a visit to the Trump White House in 2019.
