Hundreds of university and secondary school students marched on Wednesday through the city centre of Rio de Janeiro in a mobilisation against the presidential candidacy of Flavio Bolsonaro and in defence of public education and the continuation of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as President.
Footage shows students from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) demonstrating in the streets alongside students from other institutions, three days after the first round of the presidential election.
“Brazilian youth is here today because we are not going to accept the rise of the far right. Those fascists will not succeed in taking away our rights: the rights of black people, LGBT+ people, and women,” said demonstrator Maia, referring to Flavio Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party (PL) candidate. “The far right and fascism will not take those rights from us. We are here today to show that we will fight for them, because they were won through a great deal of struggle,” she added.
The young students said that, despite the results of the first round, they are confident that Lula will win the run-off. “There are many young people, many newcomers fighting for a better future, fighting for hope, for freedom and for their future,” said demonstrator Lucas.
During the protest, criticism also emerged about Washington’s influence on regional politics. “I think this is a strong reflection of US public policy. The influence they have, mainly here in Latin America, seems very strong to me. It is something that affects us enormously,” said demonstrator Gustavo.
Another issue raised was abstention in the elections. Alexandre highlighted the 1.87 percentage point difference between the two candidates and called for mobilising those who did not take part in the first round. “What is that at the national level? More than 30 million people failed to vote. Let’s go for it!” he said.
The protests come after the first round of the 4 October elections, in which Flavio Bolsonaro won 47.03 per cent of the vote and Lula 45.16 per cent. As neither candidate secured more than half of the valid votes, both will return to the polls to decide Brazil’s presidency.
Source: Viory
