Big protest in Brazil against President Bolsonaro

Thousands of Brazilians took the streets for a second day Sunday to call for the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under fire for his government's handling of COVID-19, which has raged through the country and claimed more than 216,000 lives.Horn-honking cars paraded through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and a dozen or more other cities as other protesters marched on foot, some calling, Get out Bolsonaro.Protests were called by conservative groups that had once backed the president, while those on Saturday had come from the left.

Bolsonaro who is midway through his four-year term has faced renewed criticism in recent weeks for both the crisis in Manaus and for delays in launching Brazil's immunisation campaign against COVID-19.The president has long resisted lockdown measures against the new coronavirus, arguing economic damage would be worse than the disease. Brazil's prosecutor-general, Augusto Aras, asked the Supreme Court to open an investigation into Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello over the crisis in Manaus, capital of Amazonas state. Aras cited a document that said the ministry knew of a possible shortage of oxygen on January 8, but didn't start sending extra supplies until January 12..

A newly released Datafolha survey from January 20-21 showed support for Bolsonaro fell to 37 per cent from 31 per cent in December, the biggest one-month drop since the start of his administration.The number terming his performance bad rose to 40 per cent from 32 per cent. The margin of error was two percentage points.The weekend's demonstrations come as calls for Bolsonaro's impeachment rise, though most analysts consider it unlikely to occur.