Last Updated on November 5, 2022
Tens-of-thousands of protesters packed the streets of dozens of Brazil’s largest cities and towns for the sixth consecutive day on Saturday. The protesters have called for the Brazilian Armed Forces to intervene on behalf of current President Jair Bolsonaro, citing numerous irregularities, including nearly 6 million “invalid” votes. Posts questioning the election have been promptly censored by global social media giants, including YouTube, while numerous elected politicians have been locked out of their accounts. A top judicial official has vowed to treat anyone questioning the election or participating in “anti-democratic acts” as “criminals.”
Pro-Bolsonaro protesters have packed the streets of the nation’s largest cities, including Rio De Janeiro, São Paulo and the capital of Brasilia, as well as hundreds of smaller municipalities, for six consecutive days. Protesters have surrounded army installations demanding intervention.
The nation’s electoral authority stated that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — the nation’s former leftist president who was previously jailed for corruption — received roughly 51% of the vote, defeating Bolsonaro by a little over 2 million votes. This is a far lower tally than the total number of “invalid” ballots cast in the election, however, which number over 5,700,000.
“We hope the army will intervene in this situation, we know that those elections were fraudulent,” Reinaldo da Silva, 65, a retired government worker who attended a protest outside a São Paulo army barracks, told Reuters. “I came today because I want Brasil to be free, socialism does not work with the Brazilian nation.”
In the nation’s capital, a number of protesters have set up camp outside National Army Headquarters demanding the army to investigate the election and intervene.
Brasília, 04/11/2022, em frente ao quartel-general do exército. SOS Forças Armadas! Brasília, 11/04/2022, in front of the army headquarters. SOS Armed Forces! @josh_hammer @TuckerCarlson pic.twitter.com/nYARrpEcJz
— Marco Aurélio (@MamfMotta) November 5, 2022
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As of Sunday, large rallies have been reported in 24 of 26 Brazilian states, according to Brazilian online media portal G1.
In response to the large-scale protests and growing number of questions surrounding the election, social media giants have removed any posts that raise questions. The company told Fox News that it has expanded its “existing election integrity policy to prohibit content advancing false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurred in the 2022 Brazil president election.”
Alexandre de Moraes, the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) warned that protests and “anti-democratic acts” that question Sunday’s election results “will be fought with the law,” adding that those responsible will be treated “as criminals.”
“The elections are over, the second round ended democratically. The TSE proclaimed the winner and he will take office on January 1, 2023. That is democracy, that is alternation of power, that is republican state,” De Moraes said during a Supreme Court session on Thursday. De Moraes — a Lula ally — also serves as a Magistrate on the Supreme Court in addition to his role as president of the TSE.
“There is no need to contest a democratic result with illicit, anti-democratic, criminal movements, which will be fought and those responsible punished with the law. Democracy won again in Brazil”, he said.
Despite the threats, protesters have continued to pack the streets for six consecutive days.
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