Rio de Janeiro — Truckers and different protesters on Tuesday blocked highways for a second day in help of President Jair Bolsonaro, who had yet to accept his election loss to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In Novo Hamburgo, close to the southern metropolis of Porto Alegre, police fired teargas on Tuesday to break up a protest on one main freeway, in accordance to an AFP photographer.
The government director of the Federal Highway Police (PRF), Marco Antonio Territo de Barros, advised a press convention within the capital Brasilia that there have been 267 street blockages underway throughout the nation and that 306 had already been dispersed since Sunday.
“It’s a complex operation, involving more than 75,000 kilometres (46,500 miles) of federal highways,” he stated.
On Monday night time, protests blocked roads exterior Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport, the nation’s primary worldwide hub, and several other flights have been cancelled, native media reported. Key routes in different cities such as Rio de Janeiro, have been additionally blocked.
A banner studying “Lula No!” hung off a bridge in Sao Paulo.
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“I hope that I can go back home,” stated 62-year-old actual property agent Rosangela Senna at a bus station in Sao Paulo, the place she was unable to take her bus again to Rio. “I could afford to pay for a day to sleep in a hotel here but many people had to wait right here at the bus station.”
Bolsonaro, usually referred to as the “Tropical Trump” for his similarities to the previous American president, had but to concede defeat greater than 40 hours after official outcomes confirmed Lula gained the presidential election by simply 1.8 proportion factors.
There have been fears in Brazil that Bolsonaro, 67, might try a Brazilian model of the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riots, which rocked the U.S. after former U.S. President Donald Trump refused to accept his election defeat in 2020.
But the Brazilian chief could discover himself remoted. Some key Bolsonaro allies have publicly acknowledged his loss, together with the highly effective speaker of the decrease home of Congress, Arthur Lira, and whereas the president himself has remained largely silent for the reason that election outcomes have been introduced, leaders from throughout the globe — together with allies of Bolsonaro in China and Russia — provided their congratulations to Lula.
Brazil’s Communications Minister, Fabio Faria, advised the Reuters information company that Bolsonaro would tackle the nation in a while Tuesday and wouldn’t contest his defeat within the polls, although there was no quick affirmation from the president himself.
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The state with probably the most roadblocks was southern Santa Catarina, the place virtually 70% of voters backed Bolsonaro within the election.
A Supreme Court decide on Monday night time ordered the “immediate clearing of highways and public roads,” in a assertion.
The court docket ordered the PRF to take “all measures” wanted to free the roads, threatening to nice or imprison its director for “disobedience” if the order was not carried out.
Traffic police chief Silvinei Vasques got here below hearth for posting an Instagram story on election day urging Brazilians to vote for Bolsonaro.
