Brazil exceeds 500,000 cases of coronavirus while anti-government protests increase
The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced last Sunday that the barrier of half a million coronavirus infections in the South American country had been overcome. On the same day, several groups supporting and opposing President Jair Bolsonaro faced violent riots due to the political and health crisis in the country. The most serious incidents occurred in the heart of Sao Paulo; specifically on Paulista Avenue where the demonstrators demanded the closure of the Parliament and the Supreme Court and called for a military intervention.
The Brazilian president recommended on Monday to his supporters not to demonstrate next Sunday, as they had planned, to avoid a conflict with the opposition, who had also set a protest on the same date. Bolsonaro made these statements at the Palácio da Alvorada, the official residence of the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil, one day after riding his horse, without a mask and without respecting the safety regulations with his supporters.
"You've decided to celebrate your movement on Sunday, haven't you? Well, let's leave this day in peace," said the president. At this point, a supporter asked him if he thought they should go to this demonstration or not and Bolsonaro insisted that, although he does not coordinate the protests, he does recommend changing the date.
The Brazilian newspaper O Globo has explained that the Brazilian leader has adopted a new strategy to talk to his supporters. "Traditionally, Bolsonaro did this in the area outside Alvorada, where the press can also stay. This Monday, however, he allowed the public to enter the Palace grounds and said he was doing so to avoid contact with the journalists," they said.
Meanwhile, the President of the House of Representatives, Rodrigo Maia, said on Monday that the demonstrations against the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the National Congress are "unacceptable" and described the participation of President Bolsonaro in these acts as "very bad", according to information published by the Brazilian website G1 Globo.
Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, three of the cities most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, became the focus of protests against the STF and the Congress on Sunday. The Latin American nation skipped the quarantine imposed by the current health crisis and took to the streets to protest, failing to comply in large part with the safety guidelines established by national and international health authorities. "A democratically elected government needs to respect democratic institutions," Maia stressed minutes before criticizing and condemning Bolsonaro's presence at this event.
In this scenario of instability, dozens of demonstrators in Curitiba have taken to the streets to protest against racial prejudice; a demonstration that has been dispersed by the military police of Paraná, after this protest turned violent and those present began to attack public and private property, such as bus stops or bank branches. The protest started peacefully in Praça Santos Andrade, in the center of Curitiba. The protesters carried signs with slogans like "Stop killing us every 23 minutes" (referring to the statistics of people killed daily in Brazil) or "The lives of black people matter". In addition, messages for or against the government of President Bolsonaro also predominated.
The number of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus in Brazil has increased to 526,447 and the total number of deaths exceeds 29,900, according to data published by the Ministry of Health late Monday. The states with the highest number of deaths from this pathogen are São Paulo (7,667), Rio de Janeiro (5,462), Ceará (3,118), Pará (2,925) and Pernambuco (2,875). Brazil has become the second country with the most cases of COVID-19, only behind the North American giant. However, the Brazilian nation has begun this Monday the de-escalation in some of the regions most affected by this disease, among them, Sao Paulo.