Last stand or counter-attack? By the thousands, far-right supporters once again took to the streets on Sunday, September 7, a national holiday celebrating Brazil's independence, to defend their champion, Jair Bolsonaro. The former president faces prosecution for attempted coup and risks more than 40 years in prison. The verdict, to be handed down in the coming days by the Supreme Federal Court, crystallized the anger of his loyalists.
On Avenida Paulista in São Paulo, one of the city's largest avenues, the crowd unfurled a giant Star-Spangled Banner in an attempt to appeal to Donald Trump for help. Months earlier, the US president had imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods in support of his ally, Bolsonaro. "An election without Bolsonaro is a dictatorship," read one sign, while others demanded "amnesty now."
As always, the protesters' main target was Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who led the investigation into the far-right group. "I am struck by his psychopathic features!" Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator and son of the former president, said to another crowd gathered along Copacabana Beach in Rio. Calling the proceedings a "farce," he likened the likely conviction of his father to "a second stabbing," alluding to the 2018 assassination attempt on Bolsonaro during his presidential campaign.
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