Brazil independence celebrations overshadowed by fears of violence

Brazil marks 200 years of independence from Portugal on Wednesday with its celebrations overshadowed by fears of violence amid deepening political tensions in the run-up to next month’s presidential election. Far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has been criticised for seeking to transform official events to commemorate the day into mass rallies for his struggling re-election campaign. He trails his main rival, former left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, by double figures ahead of a first round of voting on October 2nd.

But the president’s backers dismiss the polls and instead are mobilising to place hundreds of thousands of supporters on the streets in Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in an effort to counteract the impression he is heading for defeat next month. With the campaign entering its final weeks, Bolsonaro is running out of opportunities to overhaul Lula in the polls after a populist spending splurge failed to translate into greater support among an electorate suffering from high inflation, unemployment and increasing hunger.

As their candidate struggles in the polls, the president’s supporters have intensified their rhetoric against Brazil’s electoral system and the courts that oversee it, leading to fears of possible outbreaks of violence. On Monday a supreme court judge restricted the amount of weapons and ammunition that gun owners can obtain, citing the risk of political violence. Earlier the president’s son, federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, called on individual gun owners “to transform yourself into a volunteer for Bolsonaro”. His call came as Brazilian gun manufacturer Taurus, the largest in Latin America and with close ties to the Bolsonaro family, announced special discounts on automatic rifles to celebrate what it has labelled Brazil Week.

Authorities in the capital of Brasília had to set up roadblocks to prevent truck drivers from entering the main ceremonial avenue where Wednesday’s traditional military parade is due to take place. Truckers have been a key constituency backing the president along with the agribusiness sector and evangelical Christians.

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With the president’s supporters seeking to transform the parade into a campaign rally, it is unclear if other dignitaries will attend the main event in Brasília. With a constant stream of online threats against the supreme court, security has been increased around its 11 justices who are reportedly fearful of a “lone-wolf” attack by one of the president’s supporters. On Saturday Bolsonaro called court member Alexandre de Moraes, who heads the electoral court overseeing October’s election, a “scumbag” after he authorised police raids on properties linked to prominent businessmen who were members of a chat group in which they expressed a preference for a military coup rather than see Lula return to the presidency.

Bolsonaro’s re-election bid has also been hit by a big media investigation that revealed of the 107 properties his family had bought since he entered into politics in 1989, 51 were paid for wholly or partially in cash. Bolsonaro and two of his sons are under investigation for siphoning off the taxpayer-funded salaries of their parliamentary staff for themselves.

On Monday Bolsonaro, who promised to clean up Brazilian politics when running for the presidency in 2018, asked electoral authorities to order the Lula campaign to take down a video about the Bolsonaro family’s property empire. Asked about the revelations, Bolsonaro responded: “What’s the problem with buying property using cash?” He also said it was “almost certain” police would raid properties linked to his family after the report.