Brazil: Protesters in Lisbon lived as “enemies of freedom”
Organized by the Workers’ Party (PT) in Portugal and by the Popular Committee for Struggle in Portugal, formed to support Lula da Silva’s candidacy in the last presidential campaign in Brazil, a rally chosen as the slogan “no amnesty [grafia brasileira para amnistia]”, I abstained from supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who invaded and vandalized the Alvorada Palace, Congress and Federal Supreme Court, headquarters of the three Brazilian powers (executive, legislative and judiciary).
At the microphone, one of the representatives of the associations that joined the initiative of “solidarity with the Brazilian people” left an appeal: “No freedom for the enemies of freedom”.
“It’s a front, it’s a threat, not only for democracy in Brazil, but for democracy in the world”, said to Lusa Evonês Santos, PT militant for 20 years in Portugal, on behalf of the organization. “We will not continue to be peaceful about these attitudes,” she defended.
PCP and BE, Portuguese Communist Youth, Democratic Women’s Movement and the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation, among several non-partisan associations, support the rally, joining Brazilians who feel “heavily threatened”.
An activist recorded that “Brazil granted amnesty to the torturers of the dictatorship and today it is paying for it”, defending the “debolsonarization of the State”. And, reacting to the argument that Lula da Silva won the election by a few votes, he underlined the feat of having beaten him “despite four years of brainwashing”.
As soon as the first words were heard in Rossio square, verbal altercations were recorded between the concentrated people and Brazilian citizens who passed by and who shouted against Lula and in favor of Bolsonaro. “Fascists, supporters, scammers!”, denounced the demonstrators.
The “tension” between supporters of Lula and Bolsonaro living in Portugal “already existed”, was “in calm waters”, but now it is noticed “a little more” and “people felt the need to demonstrate and highlight”, highlighted Evonese Santos.
Brazilian democracy “suffered a strong attack”, both virtual and physical, at the hands of “a strongly organized group”, underlined the PT militant, accusing this group of behaving as “a kind of sect” that “imposes its vision”, going “over freedom and human rights”.
In this context, the meeting wanted to give visibility to the “need to strengthen democracy, not only in Brazil, but throughout the world”, he explained.
Warning to “the anxious” that the “threat” will “maintain and continue to organize itself”, the PT militant noted that “fortunately” the Brazilian authorities are “responding well”.
The latest developments saw the arrest, by the Brazilian federal police, of Anderson Torres, former Minister of Justice in the government of Jair Bolsonaro and also former Secretary of Public Security for the Federal District (where the capital, Brasília is located), for allegedly not having prevented the attacks perpetrated by thousands of supporters of the former president.
The Brazilian police identified, questioned and arrested more than a thousand suspects involved in the invasion and vandalization of the headquarters of the three powers in Brasília.
Even so, highlighted Evonês Santos, an organization that led to the invasion on Sunday “is not spontaneous and has already grown in roots”, hence the need for mobilization in favor of democracy.
On Wednesday, also in Lisbon, more than a hundred people demonstrated in support of Brazilian democracy, this time in an initiative organized by Coletivo Andorinha, one of the most representative Brazilian activist movements in Portugal.
At the time, the Manifesto in Support of Brazilian Democracy was launched, signed by at least 47 Portuguese organizations (including the Bloco de Esquerda, the Ecologist Party Os Verdes, SOS Racismo, Solidariedade Imigrante) and more than 400 people.