The protests organized by former President Jair Bolsonaro against the government of President Lula da Silva this Wednesday, Republic Day, ended in a resounding and unexpected failure. Protests called by Bolsonaro and his allies on social media to take place in cities across Brazil, in what was supposed to be a significant demonstration of popular rejection of the new government, did not receive the expected response and ultimately became another setback for the previous president.
In most cities where these demonstrations were planned, they did not even take place due to the small number of people who came to them. Two of Brazil’s most important cities – the capital Brasilia and the most populous Sao Paulo – hosted events, but the number of participants was so small that it attracted attention.
In Brasilia, where Jair Bolsonaro now lives and where he has already managed to draw a crowd, only about two hundred people attended the event. Wearing the green and yellow colors of Brazil, with Brazilian and Israeli flags already common in Brazilian far-right activities, protesters held a small parade of about one kilometer along the so-called Monumental Eisho, a large expressway leading to the Esplanade of Ministers, and then they organized a rally near the headquarters of the Central Bank, attacking Lula and, as always, the judges of the Federal Supreme Court of the STF.
In São Paulo, where Bolsonaro won a very large number of votes in the presidential elections last October and where he succeeded in getting his former minister Tarcisio de Freitas elected governor, the number of followers of the former ruler was even smaller than in São Paulo. capital. Journalists counted around 100 people gathered in front of Fiesp, the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo, on the famous Avenida Paulista, who also displayed signs against the STF and called Lula da Silva a “thief”, and the number of Bolsonaro supporters was so small that they even With difficulty they blocked one of the lanes on the avenue, but after a while they gave up.
Despite persistent calls for events on social media in previous days, yesterday Jair Bolsonaro did not speak out, did not even thank the few followers who faced the scorching heat and went to protests, did not comment on the low turnout or even say he would participate in any of these demonstrations, which can increase public participation. Bolsonaro never goes to a street event from the very beginning, precisely in order not to risk participating in failure, he first hopes to gather a large number of people and then appear, and does not appear if he estimates the number should be small.