Bolsonaro supporters rally in Brazil, demand amnesty for January 8 riots

Several thousand former Brazilian presidents’ supporters gathered at Copacabana Beach in Rio on Sunday to show their support for the right-wing firebrand, who is accused of trying to overthrow his left-wing successor.

In a show of strength ahead of elections next year in which he hopes to be a contender, Bolsonaro, 69, has called for a one-million-strong demonstration on the famous beach on Sunday.

The rally’s purported goal is to demand amnesty for hundreds of people who were convicted of rioting on January 8, 2023 in the capital Brasilia when Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Supreme Court, Congress, and presidential palace.

The former far-right leader told his supporters on Sunday, citing a 2026 referendum ban, that “electing elections without Bolsonaro is a denial of democracy in Brazil.” &nbsp,

The president of Brazil for 2019-2022 hopes to emulate Donald Trump’s political resumption. A banner depicting Trump on a stage with his fist raised following his fatal attempt on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania last year was displayed.

I’m here because I want to give my kids a better Brazil. One of the demonstrators, 64-year-old former military officer Jose de Souza Vitorino, told AFP: “We are living in a dark time.

The rioters demanded that the military remove Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated archrival Bolsonaro in the elections of October 2022 and took his oath just one week prior.

The violent rampage evoked Trump’s supporters’ almost two-year-old purge of the US Capitol building in Washington.

The former president, who was then-currently president Bolsonaro, claimed that the riots were part of a criminal plot to overthrow Lula and retake office.

The Supreme Court of Brazil will decide on March 25 whether Bolsonaro faces a maximum sentence of more than 40 years in prison.

“Email a message”

Bolsonaro, who has been dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics,” claims to have been the victim of political persecution to prevent him from running for president again in 2026.

He has been declared ineligible to run for office until 2030 because he falsely claimed there was fraud in Brazil’s electronic voting system, but he wants to see the ban overturned to allow for a Trump-like return.

Andre Rosa, an independent political analyst, claimed Bolsonaro’s real goal was to “send a message to his competitors on the right… and reaffirm his intention to run for president in 2026.”

Bolsonaro stated to reporters in Brasilia this week, “For now, I am a candidate.”