Protesters against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have provoked police in the capital after the last round of arrests of leading critics under a national security law passed by the dictatorship.
Four protesters were detained in Brasilia on Thursday after calling Bolsonaro a ‘genocide’ for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and displaying a cartoon depicting the president as a Nazi. But on Friday, police quietly watched an hour-long protest against Bolsonaro in the capital, which was hosted by about 40 people.
The National Security Act, which dates from 1983, near the end of the country’s military dictatorship, states that it is a crime to harm or expose the heads of the three branches of government. That vague definition was recently used to hold or investigate critics of Bolsonaro.
Katia Garcia, a geography teacher, said she appeared before the president’s office on Friday because the arrests had inspired her.
“They were sent to jail because the description ‘genocide’ suits our president very well, ‘Garcia said, wearing a face mask and face shield.’ The police cannot silence us. “
There have been charges in the past against prominent critics of the president, including a newspaper columnist, a political cartoonist and a popular YouTube star, but the law is increasingly being used against ordinary citizens. Courts have so far not maintained any arrests, but advocates express concern that the tactic is becoming ubiquitous.
Both protests in Brasilia have insisted on Bolsonaro’s accusation of his government’s failure in the pandemic, which has killed nearly 290,000 people in Brazil. The country reported nearly 3,000 deaths this week.
In several cases, the president complained that he was being unfairly insulted, most recently on Thursday night during a live Facebook broadcast.
“They call me a dictator. I want you to point out one thing I did in two years and two months that was autocratic, ‘he said while complaining about a newspaper article that used the word genocide to describe him.
Police in Brazil said on Thursday that the four protesters who had been detained had violated national security law “because they showed a swastika in association with the symbol of the President of the Republic.” But the federal police force in Brazil, which decides whether cases brought by local police deserve to continue with national crimes, dismissed the case and released three of the four protesters. One was held on an outstanding warrant from a previous case.
However, federal police conducted Bolsonaro’s more than 80 investigations under the Security Act during the first two years, and more than ten in the first 45 days of 2021, according to the newspaper O Globo. The annual average before the start of the Conservative leader was 11.
The cases appear to be directed almost entirely at Bolsonaro’s critics, human rights organizations and activists.
One case last year involved a sociologist and a businessman who paid two billboards that insulted Bolsonaro by saying he was not worth a cut fruit. Justice Minister André Mendonça has called for the inquiry, calling it a crime against the president’s reputation. It was fired in October.
On Monday, police called the law to force Felipe Neto, a popular YouTuber, to testify after referring to Bolsonaro as a ‘genocide’ in one of his broadcasts. Federal police dismissed the case two days later amid a public outrage.
Named by Time magazine last year as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Neto was also targeted in November with allegations of corrupt minors. Those charges were also dismissed.
“I knew from the beginning that this attempt at intimidation was not aimed at scaring me. “It was to scare the Brazilian people,” Neto told The Associated Press.
“I have the means to defend myself, but most teachers, journalists and civil society members do not,” added Neto, who this week set up a legal defense fund to help anyone facing similar charges in the face because they criticized Bolsonaro and needed a lawyer.
O Globo said in an editorial on Friday that the spirit of the national security law is contrary to Brazil’s constitution in promoting civil liberties.
“The national security law needs to be repealed and replaced with a more modern instrument that can reconcile the protection of the rule of law and the respect for individual rights,” the newspaper said. “This includes the full – and essential – freedom of speech.”