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Bolsonaro deepens divide with Supreme Court

Tens of thousands of supporters rally for Brazil president

By DÉBORA ÁLVARES and DAVID BILLER, DÉBORA ÁLVARES and DAVID BILLER, Associated Press
Published: September 7, 2021, 4:38pm
5 Photos
President Jair Bolsonaro arrives for a flag raising ceremony Tuesday at Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil.
President Jair Bolsonaro arrives for a flag raising ceremony Tuesday at Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil. (eraldo peres/Associated Press) Photo Gallery

BRASILIA, Brazil — Tens of thousands of supporters of embattled right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro heeded his call and turned out at rallies Tuesday as he stepped up his attacks on Brazil’s Supreme Court and threatened to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.

Bolsonaro has been locked in a feud with the high court, in particular a justice who has jailed several of the president’s supporters for allegedly financing, organizing or inciting violence or anti-democratic acts, or disseminating false information.

In calling on his followers to take to the streets on Brazil’s Independence Day in protest, Bolsonaro stirred fears among his foes that the demonstrations could erupt in violence akin to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump. But by late afternoon, there were no reports of any serious violence.

Bolsonaro got a rousing reception from demonstrators in the capital, Brasilia, and in Sao Paulo, as he lit into the Supreme Court and Justice Alexandre de Moraes for making what he characterized as political arrests.

He declared he will no longer abide by rulings from de Moraes, who will assume the presidency of the nation’s electoral tribunal next year, when Bolsonaro will seek reelection.

“Any decision from Mr. Alexandre de Moraes, this president will no longer comply with. The patience of our people has run out,” Bolsonaro said. “For us, he no longer exists.”

He also told the cheering crowd in Sao Paulo: “I want to tell those who want to make me unelectable in Brazil: Only God removes me from there.”

“There are three options for me: be jailed, killed or victorious. I’m letting the scoundrels know: I’ll never be imprisoned!” he declared.

Thomas Traumann, a political analyst, said Bolsonaro “crossed the Rubicon” on Tuesday.

“He escalated the crisis. You can’t have a president who says, ‘I won’t accept rule of law,’ or says, ‘I will only accept the laws I like.’ That’s not a democracy,” Traumann said.

Bolsonaro spent almost two months calling on supporters to take part in Independence Day rallies around the country that could show his continuing political appeal despite slumping poll ratings and a string of setbacks.

Bolsonaro had predicted 2 million people would turn out in Sao Paulo; state security officials estimated the crowd at 125,000, crammed into the city’s broad Avenue Paulista. Supporters also massed outside Brasilia’s government buildings and gathered alongside Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach. All three cities also featured smaller protests against the president.

Some of his supporters carried signs and banners calling on the military to secure Bolsonaro’s hold on power or demanding Congress and the Supreme Court be shut down.

Bolsonaro has called on the Senate to impeach de Moraes and said he might reject the 2022 presidential election results if he loses. He has also spoken nostalgically of the nation’s past military dictatorship.

On the eve of Tuesday’s protests, he signed a provisional measure sharply limiting social media networks’ ability to remove or block content.

In Brasilia, at least 100 military police with riot shields stood in front of Congress, and several dozen formed two lines behind barricades on the road leading to the Supreme Court.

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