Brazil's former president rallies his supporters in a bid to demonstrate his political strength as investigations into the alleged coup attempt accelerate.
Tens of thousands of Brazilians have demonstrated in support of former President Jair Bolsonaro amid an investigation into allegations that he tried to orchestrate a coup following his 2022 election defeat.
Bolsonaro, who called the demonstration in Sao Paulo after being targeted in a police raid earlier this month, denied coup allegations on Sunday and advocated for an electoral ban that has prevented him from running for office for eight years.
“What is a coup d'état? Tanks in the streets, weapons, conspiracy. None of that happened in Brazil,” Bolsonaro told his followers, who filled six blocks of Sao Paulo's iconic Avenida Paulista.
“We cannot accept that an authority can eliminate anyone from the political scene, unless it is for a just reason,” he stated.
Brazil's federal police confiscated the former president's passport earlier this month after accusing him of editing a draft decree to annul election results following his election loss to leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022. They also say he pressured military leaders to join a coup d'état. he attempted and conspired to imprison a Supreme Court judge.
The former army officer also faces several other investigations, such as the falsification of COVID-19 vaccination certificates or the alleged misappropriation of gifts received from other nations, such as jewelry offered by Saudi Arabia.
Separately, hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters were also arrested and face charges for invading and looting Brazil's presidential palace, Supreme Court and Congress on January 8, 2023, a week after Lula took office.
Bolsonaro said on Sunday that he was being “persecuted” and that his draft decree was based on the Constitution.
He also called for amnesty for people who participated in the January 8 riots.
“What I am looking for is pacification. “It is erasing the past,” Bolsonaro said. “It's about finding a way for us to live in peace and stop being so nervous. Amnesty for the poor who are imprisoned in Brasilia. We ask the 513 congressmen and 81 senators for an amnesty bill so that justice can be done in Brazil.”
While Bolsonaro is banned from running for office until 2030 due to two convictions for abuse of power, he remains active in Brazilian politics as the main adversary of the center-left Lula.
As this year's mayoral election approaches, the candidates have been split between the two leaders.
Al Jazeera's Monica Yanakiew, reporting from Sao Paulo, said Bolsonaro called the demonstration to demonstrate his political strength.
“All these people around me, and there are thousands of them, have come to show their support for Jair Bolsonaro. They are dressed in yellow and green, which are the colors of Brazil. We have not seen such a demonstration since January 8, 2023, when the uprising occurred,” he said.
“Bolsonaro called this demonstration because he faces a whole series of legal battles and runs the risk of being imprisoned. “Bolsonaro wants to show that he is still popular and that he can make a difference in the next municipal elections in October.”
Bolsonaro and his supporters also waved Israeli flags at the protest, rejecting Lula's recent comments comparing Israel's offensive in Gaza to the Holocaust.
