MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro followers call for military intervention with cries of “civil resistance” and raised hands

Incitement to Nazis is considered a crime in Brazil. The Federal Prosecutor's Office of the State of Santa Catarina is on the issue.

Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro protested on Wednesday in front of Army barracks in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to demand military chiefs to prevent the inauguration of the president elected last Sunday in the general elections, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, through a coup d'état.

The demonstrators understand that the speech given by Bolsonaro after his defeat encourages them to continue protesting and demanding justice for alleged fraud.

In a video that went viral on social media, a crowd of supporters is seen singing the Brazilian anthem with their right hands raised in the air, as Nazis used to do during the Third Reich in 1930's Germany.

Desde quando a saudação ao hino nacional brasileiro é igual a que faziam em um certo país da Europa nos Anos 30 e 40? pic.twitter.com/CFrjCTXikZ

— Desmentindo Bolsonaro (@desmentindobozo) November 2, 2022

Incitement to Nazis is considered a crime in Brazil. The Federal Prosecutor's Office of the State of Santa Catarina said in its statement that it is already working “to identify the people who performed the Nazi salute during rallies that were supposed to be democratic and peaceful.”

“Once identified, a report will be drawn up and the information will be forwarded to the Public Prosecutor's Office for the accountability of those involved,” said prosecutor Marcela de Jesus Fernandes, according to CNN.

Read also: Bolsonaro urges his followers to clear the roads

“The dream is still alive”, said a message disseminated on Tuesday on social networks by militants, taking up the words of the president, and added: “Fill the streets tomorrow”.

Shouting “I authorize” and “Federal intervention now!” they called for the action of the Armed Forces. “We do not admit that a thief governs us,” Angela Cosac, 70, told AFP, next to a sign reading “SOS Armed Forces.”

“We come to ask the Army to make a federal intervention in the institutions of Brasilia, in the electoral justice, to vote again because there was fraud. We are the people and we do not accept the elections; we want a recount of the votes”, expressed to Télam Marcelo Rossetti, one of the organizers of the march in Sao Paulo.

“Lula cannot take office, he was convicted and he will have no respite if the government takes office”, added another demonstrator, identified as Rafael Vieira, who accused the Supreme Federal Court of staging a coup d'état, after annulling the conviction of the corruption charges against Lula.

Protests were also registered in Brasilia, with thousands of demonstrators in front of the headquarters, shouting “Civil Resistance”.

In downtown Rio de Janeiro, demonstrators chanted under the rain: “Lula, thief, your place is prison”, according to videos recorded by the demonstrators themselves.

Bolsonaro's words

Bolsonaro waited until Tuesday afternoon to speak after losing in the ballot.

In his message, the current Brazilian president said he would respect the Constitution, but did not explicitly recognize Lula's victory.

Regarding the road blockades registered since election Sunday and other demonstrations, he said that his supporters “cannot apply the same methods as those of the left”, harming “the right to come and go”, but justified the protests by pointing out that they originate from a feeling of “injustice” due to the electoral process.

Later on Wednesday, Bolsonaro published a video on his Twitter account where he says that he supported the protests but asked his followers to move “elsewhere” because roadblocks did not “seem to me to be part of legitimate demonstrations.”