Protesters gathered in Lisbon against Brazil’s president, increasing poverty and violence. They demanded the removal of Bolsonaro from power.

“Out Bolsonaro”, “genocidal Bolsonaro” or “If the people unite Bolsonaro will fall” were some of the slogans shouted by dozens of protesters, who marched from Praça Luís de Camões to Rossio, passing by the Brazilian consulate, this Saturday in Lisbon.

In a peaceful demonstration, Brazilians – the majority living in Portugal – protested against the way in which the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, managed the pandemic, the increase in poverty and violence in the country, and demanded their departure from the Palácio do Planalto .

This Saturday, dozens of demonstrators descended on Rua Garrett, to the sound of drums, holding signs that read “Fora Bozo”, “Viva o Poder Popular” or “Marielle present”, in a march “against the genocide of the Brazilian”. Laís Barros, 32, arrived in Lisbon a week ago to do a PhD in gender issues and decide to join the protest. “In Portugal I feel freer to study whatever I want. In Brazil, all areas of study have been cut as scholarships, there is censorship on some topics and persecution of teachers. We have to leave to continue studying”, he lamented.

Sofia Valente, 20, and Rafael Barcelos, 18, are also studying for Portugal. They arrived three months ago and wished they didn’t have to feel obligated to leave the country where they were born. “I have never seen so many people dying of hunger and violence has increased a lot. Here we have prospects for the future, there is excessive unemployment there”, shared the young woman who, at the end of the demonstration, was moved when a Brazilian supporter of Bolsonaro, who was going passing, he told protesters to “go to work.” “It’s very hard to hear this.”

The other protesters were quick to react, hooting the man with whistles and calling him a “thief”. “He’s going to eat bones”, shouted some of them, under the watchful eyes of police officers, who did not need to intervene in a demonstration that took place without major disturbances.

Enaile Iadanza, 60 years old, living in Brasília, came to Portugal for a few days and cannot fail to participate in the march against Bolsonaro. “There is a lot of misery in Brazil, a lot of people living on the streets, who are eating fish bones and heads, what is given to animals. We have to try to get rid of Bolsonaro, it is destroying the whole country”, he criticized. Ricardo Scholz, 38, who has been with a wife and four-year-old son in Lisbon since August, working remotely, shared the same. “I’ve never seen so many homeless people and people begging in the street or in lines to eat. As a result, the increase and we feel more insecure. We came to Portugal because we wanted to get away from Brazil, which is in chaos”, he lamented the Brazilian from Recife.

Pedro Prola, coordinator of the Workers’ Party Nucleus in Lisbon, one of the organizers of the protest, recalled that “more than 600,000 people have already died in the pandemic because of Bolsonaro’s crimes.” “We are in a very complicated situation, with more than 19 million people going hungry every day.”