Thousands of Brazilians flocked to the streets on Saturday to express their displeasure with President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, in what looked to be the country's largest rallies since the outbreak began last year.
Demonstrators in the country's main cities, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasilia, demanded that the president be impeached and that Covid-19 vaccinations be made more widely available. Despite the fact that most demonstrators wore masks, many did not appear to be attempting social distance.
On Saturday, the Health Ministry reported 79,670 new Covid-19 infections and 2,012 coronavirus-related deaths in Brazil, raising the possibility of a third wave. Covid-19 has resulted in around 460,000 fatalities and 16 million infections in the country.
Around 19 million people, or less than 9.4 percent of the country's population, have been properly vaccinated.
In the early phases of the outbreak, Bolsonaro consistently minimized it. He earlier referred to Covid-19 as a "little flu" and thwarted attempts to impose social separation or lockdowns. At the protest, there were signs claiming Bolsonaro's actions amounted to "genocide."
The Brazilian Senate is investigating the Bolsonaro administration's response to the outbreak.
Protesters in Sao Paulo voiced their displeasure with Bolsonaro's policies.
Bolsonaro, said to nurse Patricia Ferreira, is "worse than the flu right now."
"We're fatigued," she continued, "and our healthcare system is on the edge of collapsing." "With him (Bolsonaro) in power, there will be no solution to the pandemic."
Beatriz Fernanda Silva, a student, said she was protesting to memorialize her uncle, who she alleged was killed by Covid-19 when he was 42 years old.
"I came here to advocate for the vaccine that could have saved his life but was unavailable to him. He died in late February, leaving behind two children and a wife" said the student.
She acknowledged the danger she was putting herself in by "being on the street in the middle of a pandemic," but felt it was necessary to speak out.
"A large number of individuals are dying. Bolsonaro should do something about it, but he's been ignoring it since the beginning "According to CNN, Silva stated.
Except for the state capital of Pernambuco, Recife, where police deployed rubber bullets, gas bombs, and pepper spray to disperse the gathering, the protests were mostly nonviolent. On social media, videos appeared to show one demonstrator being hit in the eye with a rubber bullet, and police using pepper spray on Liana Cisne, a local councilwoman from the Worker's Party.
The order to disperse the protestors did not come from the government, according to Pernambuco state vice-governor Luciana Santos, and an investigation into police methods has been begun. Governor Paulo Camara has placed the police commander and officers implicated on leave until the investigation is completed.
The protests took place a week after President Bolsonaro held a motorcycling rally in Rio de Janeiro. There, he argued against limiting measures, while his followers demanded the overthrow of Brazil's Supreme Court, which has given local governors and mayors the power to enact steps to stop the virus from spreading.
