Brazil's right rallies for 'freedom' after X suspended

BRASILIA: Urged on by beleaguered ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, thousands of demonstrators from Brazil's political right took to the streets Saturday (Sep 7) amid a free speech tussle that has seen X, the right's preferred social media platform, suspended in the country.

The demonstration in Sao Paulo took place on Brazil's Independence Day, in counter-programming to an official parade in the capital Brasilia overseen by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. 

In Sao Paulo, Latin America's largest city, the recurrent themes in posters and banners were "democracy" and "liberty," but also calls for the ouster of Alexandre de Moraes -- the Supreme Court judge who a week ago blocked Elon Musk's popular social media platform X from Brazil.

"I'm here to demand the removal of Alexandre de Moraes; what he is doing is unacceptable," 35-year-old architect Emilia Lapolli told AFP. "He's ignoring the Constitution and making laws as he pleases”.

In a video on Instagram, Bolsonaro had urged protesters to turn out en masse in green and yellow - the colours of the Brazilian flag but which his supporters have coopted - and they obliged.

"I want to protest against the madness taking place in our country. We're being subjected to censorship," said one demonstrator, retired computer engineer Sergio Luiz Barreira. 

Bolsonaro, who is 69, stopped briefly at a hospital in the morning due to a "bad flu," his aides said while adding that it would not keep him from appearing at the rally.

He hoped to use the march to demonstrate his political clout a month before municipal elections in the deeply divided country. 

Bolsonaro left office nearly two years ago after a razor-thin election defeat to archrival Lula.

That prompted so-called Bolsonaristas to storm the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court on January 8, 2023, calling for the military to oust Lula and claiming, without evidence, that the election was stolen.

Bolsonaro, dubbed the "Tropical Trump," is under investigation for an alleged coup attempt over those events.

Bolsonaro and the far right are at war with Moraes, who presided over the TSE electoral tribunal when it banned the ex-president from running for office until 2030 over his attempts to discredit Brazil's electoral system.

Moraes, who has taken on the mantle of an anti-disinformation crusader, is leading several other investigations into Bolsonaro, and it was he who ordered the suspension in Brazil of X for breaching local laws.

The right hates Moraes and accuses him of censorship and abuse of office.

Several posters on the streets of Sao Paulo bore Musk's likeness, as the right has made the billionaire its champion.

The suspension of X was a "blow to our freedom and legal security," one that would drive away foreign investors, Bolsonaro said Thursday on LinkedIn.

Lula, for his part, has come out in support of the fight against "fake news."

"We will always be intolerant of any person, regardless how rich, who defies Brazilian law," the president said Friday.

Saturday's demonstration was called before Moraes blocked X, the former Twitter.

One of the rally's organizers, evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia, urged followers to come out in numbers to demand "the removal of the toga-clad dictator Alexandre de Moraes."

Members of the right-wing opposition in Brazil's Senate have said they will file for Moraes's impeachment next week - a move welcomed by Musk.

Bolsonaro has travelled the country widely in recent months to boost allies who will be seeking office in October local elections.

On Saturday, "We will see the true extent of Bolsonarism," Geraldo Monteiro, a political scientist with the University of Rio de Janeiro, told AFP, in reference to the turnout. 

In February, a pro-Bolsonaro rally also in Sao Paulo gathered an estimated 185,000 people, according to researchers at the University of Sao Paulo.

Another in Rio in April was smaller.

In Brasilia, Lula - with Moraes seated near him on the official podium - presided over a parade featuring 30 military athletes who competed in the Paris Olympic Games.

Before taking his seat, Lula waved as he rode through town in the presidential Rolls-Royce.