- TikTok battles US ban threat in court
- Glamorgan approach Hollywood's Reynolds and McElhenney over Hundred investment
- League Cup still 'significant' for Man Utd boss Ten Hag
- Brazil's farmers fret over fires and drought
- Top Biden aide says US economy at 'turning point'
- US military says withdrawal from Niger is complete
- Iran president vows to ensure morality police don't 'bother' women
- Bayern set sights on dream home Champions League final
- Toll hits 17 as Storm Boris lashes central Europe
- Hamas chief says ready for 'long war' in Gaza
- Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes
- Iran's new president vows to ensure morality police don't 'bother' women
- Australia put teenage quick Beardman on standby for England ODIs
- Americans, Swiss snatch lifeline in Louis Vuitton Cup
- Stock markets mixed before Fed decision
- Trump blames Biden and Harris 'rhetoric' for assassination bids
- Ex-BBC anchor avoids jail over 'repugnant' images of children
- Brentford forward Wissa out for 'a couple of months'
- Titanic shipbuilder sinks back into trouble
- Where in the world is closest to becoming a '15-minute city'?
- Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region
- US election in newly volatile territory after Trump alleged assassination bid
- UK PM Starmer praises Italy's Meloni for reducing illegal migration
- France probes online threats against Afghan taekwondo fighter
- Sinner hires Djokovic's ex-fitness coach after dope test row
- Swifties raise $40k in wake of Trump post hating on star
- Fear and tears as Storm Boris wrecks Czech town
- Stock markets waver before Fed decision
- Storm Boris unleashes central Europe flooding, toll hits 15
- Penpix of candidates to succeed Bach as IOC President
- Azerbaijan Grand Prix - three things we learned
- AC Milan midfielder Bennacer out for four months
- British politics and fashion collide at London Fashion Week
- French YouTuber hits peak with Everest documentary
- Athletics legend Coe vies with six rivals for IOC presidency
- Ex-BBC anchor Huw Edwards avoids jail over 'repugnant' child images
- Bellingham, Tchouameni back for Madrid's Champions League opener
- Thierry Breton: France's bulldozer at the EU crashes out
- Stock markets diverge before Fed as China woes weigh
- Shanghai cleans up after strongest storm in decades hits Chinese megacity
- French jihadist linked to Charlie Hebdo attackers goes on trial
- Bombshell as France's Breton slams door on EU commission
- African players in Europe: Wissa 22-second goal in vain
- Storm Boris unleashes central Europe flooding, toll hits 11
- Man City fight to avoid severe sanctions as 'trial of the century' begins
- UK PM Starmer meets Italy's Meloni for illegal immigration talks
- Japan celebrates historic Emmys triumph for 'Shogun'
- Van Dijk urges Liverpool to hit back after 'unacceptable' Forest loss
- Ex-BBC anchor Huw Edwards to be sentenced over indecent child images
- France's Breton quits EU Commission in reappointment row
RBGPF | 8.3% | 62.16 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.46% | 6.59 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.28% | 25.04 | $ | |
RIO | 1.04% | 63.205 | $ | |
VOD | 1.64% | 10.34 | $ | |
SCS | 1.46% | 13.994 | $ | |
AZN | 0.82% | 78.92 | $ | |
BTI | 0.47% | 39.355 | $ | |
GSK | 1.18% | 43.525 | $ | |
BCC | -0.95% | 134.585 | $ | |
NGG | 0.88% | 70.22 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.16% | 25.06 | $ | |
RELX | 0.7% | 48.045 | $ | |
JRI | 0.75% | 13.29 | $ | |
BP | 1.29% | 32.255 | $ | |
BCE | -0.57% | 34.47 | $ |
Brazil's right rallies for 'freedom' after X suspended
Led by beleaguered ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's political right rallied Saturday amid a free speech tussle that has seen X, its preferred social platform, suspended in the country.
Bolsonaro called the demonstration for Latin America's biggest city, Sao Paulo, on Independence Day -- which was being celebrated in the capital Brasilia with a parade overseen by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
In a video, Bolsonaro urged protesters to turn out en masse in green and yellow -- the colors of the Brazilian flag but also coopted by his supporters.
"There is no point celebrating our independence if we are deprived of freedom," the former president said in the post on Instagram.
At the rally scheduled for 2:00 pm (1700 GMT) Bolsonaro will be hoping to show his political clout a month before municipal elections in the deeply divided country.
He left office nearly two years ago after a razor-thin election defeat to archrival Lula.
That prompted so-called Bolsonaristas to storm the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court on January 8, 2023, calling for the military to oust Lula and claiming, without evidence, that the election was stolen.
Bolsonaro, dubbed the "Tropical Trump," is under investigation for an alleged coup attempt over those events.
- 'Toga-clad dictator' -
Bolsonaro and the far right are at war with Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the TSE electoral tribunal when it banned the ex-president from running for office until 2030 over his attempts to discredit Brazil's electoral system.
Moraes, who has taken on the mantle of an anti-disinformation crusader, is leading several other investigations into Bolsonaro, and it was he who ordered the suspension in Brazil of X for breaching local laws.
The right hates Moraes and accuses him of censorship and abuse of office.
Bolsonaro has described his ruling against X as a "blow to our freedom and legal security, which will drive away foreign investors and have adverse consequences in all spheres of public life in Brazil."
Lula, for his part, has come out in support of the fight against "fake news."
Saturday's demonstration was called before Moraes blocked the platform formerly known as Twitter.
One of the rally's organizers, evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia, urged followers to come out in numbers to demand "the removal of the toga-clad dictator Alexandre de Moraes."
Members of the right-wing opposition in Brazil's Senate have said they will file for Moraes's impeachment next week -- a move welcomed by X owner Elon Musk.
Bolsonaro has traveled the country widely in recent months to boost allies who will be seeking office in October local elections.
On Saturday, "We will see the true extent of Bolsonarism," Geraldo Monteiro, a political scientist with the University of Rio de Janeiro, told AFP, in reference to the turnout.
In his social media appeal, Bolsonaro asked supporters to "not take part in the independence ceremonies organized by the government."
In February, a pro-Bolsonaro rally also in Sao Paulo gathered an estimated 185,000 people, according to researchers at the University of Sao Paulo.
Another in Rio in April gathered fewer.
In Brasilia, Lula -- with Moraes seated near him on the official podium -- presided over a parade featuring 30 military athletes who competed in the Paris Olympic Games.
Before taking his seat, Lula waved as he rode through town in the presidential Rolls-Royce.
M.Odermatt--BTB