Bolsonaro denies coup attempt as thousands rally behind him
SAO PAULO: Thousands of Brazilians poured into the streets of Sao Paulo on Sunday as expresident Jair Bolsonaro flexed his political muscle and hit out at an election ban that has seen him barred from seeking office for eight years.
Addressing a massive crowd of supporters in the economic capital, Bolsonaro again denied charges he plotted a coup to stay in power after losing an election in October 2022.
“What is a coup? Tanks in the streets, weapons, conspiracy. None of that happened in Brazil,” said Bolsonaro, who has had his passport seized by police as he and his inner circle are investigated.
“We cannot accept that an authority can eliminate whoever it may be from the political scene, unless it is for a fair reason,” he said.
In June, the electoral tribunal barred Bolsonaro from running for office until 2030 over his attacks on the election system.
Bolsonaro also called for “an amnesty for those poor wretched souls who are imprisoned in Brasilia” after the invasion of the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court in January 2023 by his followers, who demanded the military intervene in what they said had been a stolen election.
The 68-year-old former army officer called Sunday’s protest for a show of support as his legal woes pile up a little over a year since he left office after losing a deeply divisive election to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Dressed in the green and yellow of Brazil’s flag, which Bolsonaro claimed as a symbol while in office, his supporters thronged Paulista Avenue, one of the main arteries in the country’s economic capital.
The former leader reiterated that he was being “persecuted” after his 2019-2022 rule.
“I’m looking for pacification, to erase the past and find a way for us to live in peace,” he said.