Far-right Brazilian president’s son faces criticism after he suggests the government use dictatorship-era tactics to control street riots
- Eduardo Bolsonaro said protests and riots, like those in Chile, need a firm hand
- Called for the use of a decree employed by Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1968
- It stripped the opposition of rights and suspended constitutional guarantees
- Bolsonaro Jr said the decree could be used ‘if the left radicalised to that point’
- His father said he regretted his son’s comments and Eduardo later apologised
A son of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro faced criticism Thursday after suggesting the government adopt dictatorship-era tactics to control street riots.
Lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro said protests and riots of the kind that have occurred in several other Latin American countries, like those seen recently in Chile, could be stopped if they ever happen in Brazil.
Chilean President, Sebastian Pinera, had to call off a UN climate summit set for later this year after civil unrest ignited across the South American country. Protesters have flooded the streets, battling against police, demanding economic equality.
In comments broadcast Thursday on social media, the president’s son recommended a decree similar to one issued in 1968 by Brazil’s military dictatorship should the ‘left’ take to the streets in his homeland.
In this October 11, 2019 file photo, lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the nation’s president, smiles during the final voting session on pension reform at the Senate in Brasilia, Brazil. Lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro said protests and riots of the kind that have occurred in several other Latin American countries, like recent rioting in Chile, could be stopped if they ever happen in Brazil
Demonstrators march holding a banner that reads in Portuguese: “Who ordered the killing of Marielle?”, during a protest demanding the identification of the mastermind of her death in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. Leftist groups have organized 16 protests in 11 states, starting with Sao Paulo and Brasilia
Four years after President João Goulart was removed from his democratically elected position in a coup, the decree stripped opposition lawmakers of political rights and suspended some constitutional guarantees.
Eduardo Bolsonaro said it could be introduced ‘if the left radicalizes to that point’.
Bolsonaro is the leader of his father’s Social Liberal Party in Congress’ lower house.
Politicians from all sides, including the heads of the Lower House and Senate, as well as a Supreme Court justice, repudiated the comments as anti-democratic.
Women dressed in black and wearing eye patches, representing protesters injured with pellets shot by riot police, raise their wrists to a line of police as they take part in the so-called ‘Mourning March’ in Santiago, Chile, on November 01, 2019
Riot police fire a water cannon to disperse demonstrators during a protest against the government’s economic policies in the surroundings of La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, Chile, on November 01, 2019
President Bolsonaro himself said in a televised interview he regretted his son’s comments, and Eduardo Bolsonaro later apologized.
In 1998, the president praised the Chilean dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet ‘should have killed more people’. Pinochet’s government murdered 3,000 citizens.
He has also been criticised for his homophobic and racist comments.
Still, a sprinkling of protesters gathered Thursday evening on Sao Paulo’s main street to oppose the far-right government.
Leftist groups have organized 16 protests in 11 states, starting with Sao Paulo and Brasilia.
‘I am here to fight for democracy. This country is going the wrong way,’ said Joyce Fernandes, a 24-years-old law student.
‘I want to see this country say there will never be a dictatorship again. There is just too much, I am fed up.’
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