Truckers block Brazilian roads, demand dismissal of Supreme Court judges
Brasilia, Sep 8 (EFE).- Trucker supporters of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro blocked roads around the country Wednesday to demand the dismissal of the Supreme Court judges, the same demand as the previous day’s massive far-right protests.
According to the Highway Police, the blockades occurred in at least 14 of the 27 states of the country and the protesters, in addition to demanding the removal of the 11 magistrates, also demanded in some cases for the “dissolution” of Congress and a reduction in fuel prices.
Official information said that the blockades occurred in 117 places, with varying intensity. In some cases they were only concentrations of people, and in others there had been a total or partial blockade of roads.
In messages disseminated through social media, many protesters said that the dismissal of the Supreme Court justices is one of the conditions required in order for the demonstrations and blockades to end.
Lawyer Erick Carvalho, who defends a truck driver accused of promoting antidemocratic acts and considered a fugitive after the Supreme Court ordered his arrest last week, said that on Wednesday he intended to present to the Senate a request with a view to the removal of the magistrates.
“I already have the message from the truckers and there will be a stoppage, a strike. We tried to resolve it peacefully, but they do not want an agreement,” he declared.
Carvalho represents Marcos Antonio Pereira, a truck driver wanted by the police and who in the last two days has called for a transporters’ strike.
In a video released Wednesday on social media, the fugitive known as Ze Trovao warned that the road protests will intensify from the early hours of Thursday to “block everything.”
“As of tomorrow only ambulances, medicines and oxygen (can) pass by. Nothing more,” said Trovao, who claimed that the Supreme Court “is playing with democracy.”
The political and institutional crisis that Brazil is experiencing worsened Tuesday, when on Independence Day thousands of people took to the streets of various cities in the country encouraged by Bolsonaro and the extreme right that supports his government.
The biggest protests were directed against parliament and the Supreme Court, whom Bolsonaro’s supporters accuse of “obstructing” the government.
The president led demonstrations in Brasilia and Sao Paulo, where he went so far as to urge his followers to “disobey” some of the Supreme Court’s rulings.
That statement was repudiated by all political parties, Congress and the Supreme Court, whose president Luiz Fux warned that failure to comply with sentences is a crime which, in the case of Bolsonaro, could lead to impeachment. EFE
de/tw
