On October 31st, the first Monday following the day that the election results were announced, manifestations led by truck drivers, supporters of Jair Bolsanaro, have spreaded across major capital cities in Brazil. They aimed to protest against the result of the election – where Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came out as the winner – questioning the role of the Electoral Justice in 2022, and some asked for military intervention.
By the end of the night of the 31st, the Federal Highway Police (PRF) reported that there were “321 points of blockages or agglomerations on roads in 25 states and in the Federal District.” (Folha de S.Paulo, 2022). Soon, Alexandre de Moraes, from the Supreme Court of Justice, ordered the PRF to clear the blockages by warming fines reaching R$100 000.00 per hour per vehicle.
On November 1st, President Jair Bolsonaro made his first announcement, where he ignored his loss but instead, tried to address the current situation. He said that the protests were “the result of resentment and a feeling of injustice at the way in which the electoral process took place”, and that “peaceful manifestations will always be welcome.” (Bolsonaro TV Brasil, 2022).
On the following day, there was a significant decrease in the number of points of blockages, going from 271 on November 1st to 167 on the 2nd. Meanwhile, interpretations such as they “are not going to stop” and that they will “make peaceful protests” were circulating in the media (BBC News Brasil, 2022).
Even though protests are a way for the population to make their voices heard, the incident that started last week brought detrimental consequences to the country. It resulted in delaying oxygen delivery to hospitals, rising gasoline prices and lack of fuel in cities like Santa Catarina. Even four days later, on the Sunday of the same week, there was still some type of protest going on around capital cities. Thankfully, the PRF announced that only 2 blockages were left, and that they had cleared a total of 1020 manifestations.
Image Source: G1
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