As Brazil tops 500,000 deaths, protests against President Bolsonaro

In Brazil, anti-government protesters took to the streets in more than a score of cities across the country on Saturday as the nation’s confirmed death toll from Covid-19 soared past half a million. Critics blame on President Jair Bolsonaro’s attempt to minimize the disease. Thousands gathered in downtown Rio de Janeiro waving flags with slogans such as “Get out Bolsonaro” and “Government of hunger and unemployment”.  Marchers hoisted posters reading: “500 thousand deaths. It’s his fault”, alluding to Bolsonaro.

Similar marches took place in at least 22 of Brazil’s 26 states, as well as in the Federal District, Brasilia. They were promoted by left-wing opposition parties who have been heartened by Bolsonaro’s declining poll ratings with next year’s presidential race looming. In Sao Paulo, protesters dropped red balloons as a tribute to the victims of the virus Bolsonaro’s supporters have taken more often to the streets over the past month, in large part because many agree with his dismissal of restrictions meant to stifle the coronavirus and anger that lockdown measures have hurt businesses.

Critics say such messages, as well as Bolsonaro’s promotion of disproven treatments such as hydroxychloroquine, have contributed to the soaring death toll and a sluggish vaccine campaign that has fully inoculated less than 12 per cent of the population. The country of some 213 million people is registering nearly 100,000 new infections and 2,000 deaths a day. Saturday’s marches came a week after Bolsonaro led backers in a massive motorcycle parade in Sao Paulo, though his supporters and critics differ dramatically on the size of that event.