Bolsonaro’s talk does not end roadblocks, but coup movement gets smaller on the 3rd day

The first speech by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) after being defeated in the elections frustrated those who expected the president to explicitly ask for the demobilization of road blocks, made by supporters who dispute without evidence the results of the polls and call for a coup.

The head of the Planalto said this Tuesday afternoon (1st) that the movement is “the result of indignation and a feeling of injustice at how the electoral process took place” – supporting the coup movement. He then said, however, that the methods of his supporters “cannot be those of the left” nor include curtailing the right to come and go.

After the president’s speech, protesters gathered on Castelo Branco highway (SP) promised to continue blocking the road. “Let’s persevere. We believe in a revolution by January,” said one participant. In groups on Telegram and on social networks, the speech was also interpreted as support for the coup mobilizations.

“Let’s not abandon the streets. On the contrary, let’s remain firm, because I think that between the lines of this speech there may be something”, said one supporter.

“At no time did he say that it is not to manifest. This is the signal he gave us,” said another. “The message he gave: peaceful demonstration without blocking the passages.”

Despite some blockades ordered this Tuesday by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), several groups remain active with coup calls. With that, the lockdowns reach their third day, with protesters vowing to maintain the bans.

The PRF has already imposed 912 fines on drivers who are blocking highways. The balance sheet shows that the value exceeds 5.5 million until November 1st.

The number of actions on highways this Tuesday (which had been increasing throughout the day) decreased slightly throughout the afternoon. There were 235 obstruction points recorded before the speech and 213 in the following bulletin, released after the speech (the peak, 421, was recorded on Monday night). At around 4 am this Wednesday (2), the PRF said there were 164 lockdowns in 17 states.

The records, according to the PRF, are in Acre (5), Amazonas (3), Bahia (1), Espírito Santo (6), Goiás (3), Minas Gerais (12), Mato Grosso ( 30), in Mato Grosso do Sul (2), in Pará (18), in Pernambuco (3), in Paraná (9), in Rondônia (15), in Roraima (1), in Rio Grande do Sul (2) , in Santa Catarina (37), in São Paulo (8) and in Tocantins (9).

The mobilizations continue even after the STF (Federal Supreme Court) threatens to fine R$100,000 and even arrest the director general of the PRF (Federal Highway Police), Silvinei Vasques, if there is no effective measure by the corporation to clear the roads.

The decision had been taken in an injunction by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF, on the night of this Monday (31), and was endorsed by the majority of the court already during the dawn of Tuesday, in a virtual session.

Moraes also authorized this Tuesday the use of the Military Police, including on federal highways, to clear blockages. The PMs, he said, must adopt “the necessary and sufficient measures, at the discretion of the responsible authorities of the State Executive Powers, for the immediate clearing of all public roads that, illicitly, are with their traffic interrupted.”

He also ordered the arrest for flagrante delicto of people who are committing crimes against the democratic rule of law. The governors of the states and the Federal District were also summoned, in addition to the commanders-general of the PMs and attorneys-general of Justice of the state Public Ministry.

After the order of Alexandre de Moraes, governors and the military police of the states began to work to clear highways blocked by protests of a coup nature. As of Tuesday night, six states had started to clear the roads — Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, Roraima and Pará.

In some cases, there was confrontation between police forces and protesters. On the BR-116 near Novo Hamburgo, in the metropolitan area of ​​Porto Alegre, the PRF gave up on negotiating and, in the face of resistance from the Bolsonaristas, the riot police of the Military Brigade used tear gas bombs to disperse the group.

“About the illegal roadblocks that occur on the roads of RS, my order to the state security forces is to act and carry out the unblockings immediately, as indicated by the law”, wrote the state governor, Ranolfo Vieira Júnior (PSDB), in the Twitter.

In São Paulo, the Shock Troop was called to clear the Castelo Branco highway, which used tear gas bombs and fired rubber bullets. The protesters dispersed, but later regrouped.

A supporter of Bolsonaro, the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema (Novo), stated that in a video on his social networks that he would request the unblocking of the roads.

“The election is over and now we have to ensure everyone’s right to come and go, and also that the goods arrive where they need to be, so that there is no shortage. Let’s comply with the law,” said Zema.

In Pará, however, the state’s MPF (Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office) states, in a letter sent to the Attorney General’s Office, that the corporation has not complied with the decision of the STF.

“The Federal Highway Police has not discharged its constitutional and legal duties to date and has also failed to fully justify the failure of its actions”, says the letter, signed by 20 members of the MPF. They ask for the information to be sent to the STF.

Criticized for not intervening in the blockades, the director general of the PRF stated in a justification sent to Moraes this Tuesday that the Bolsonarista demonstrations on highways took on proportions that “the ordinary staff cannot, on their own, resolve” and there would be a need for “extraordinary mobilization of servers”.

“It is also important to emphasize that, in addition to the fact that there are several interruption points, spread across several Brazilian states, it is not a manifestation of truck drivers or even an isolated category, but a group of people of different classes and ages. varied, united by specific ideological/political ties”, stated Vasques in a letter.

“In some cases, the agglomerations exceed 5,000 people, using tractors, passenger cars, taxis, motorcycle taxis, among others”, added the director general of the PRF.

He stressed that the activation of all the body’s available personnel and the support of the PMs, authorized by Moraes, were not enough to clear “the more than 400 blocking points” and informed that he also asked the Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres , the help of the National Force.

Vasques also determined that the regional superintendencies of the corporation inform plates and names of the owners of the trucks involved in the protests. The data will be sent to Moraes for inclusion in the September 7, 2021 inquiry into undemocratic acts.

Without foreseeing an end to blockades, the PRF (Federal Highway Police) said that there have already been 182 assessments for obstruction of highways or for organizing blockades and also arrests. However, there were no details of how many people were arrested and in which locations.

In addition, the PRF said that it has already identified the agents who participated in three videos saying that the order would be to only be on site, two videos in Santa Catarina and one in São Paulo.

THE Sheet had access to videos in which federal police say they will not do anything about the blockades. In one of the images recorded in Palhoça (SC), a police officer says that the order is just to be there.

According to the PRF, the police officers were not removed from their duties, but must answer for administrative proceedings. The information was released at a press conference on Tuesday (1st).

Members of the Federal Public Ministry, at different levels of the institution, demanded from the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, “energetic action” in confronting the Bolsonarist protests. Ministers of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) also intensified behind the scenes charges to the PGR.

In one of the letters sent to him this Tuesday (1st), sub-attorneys of the Republic expressed “grave concern” with the acts carried out across the country.

“This unconstitutional state of affairs cannot be answered by the silence and inaction of public agents to whom the Constitution of the Republic grants the competence to defend the legal order and the democratic regime, demanding, therefore, the urgent and firm action of the Attorney General. General of the Republic”, said the signatories of the document.