Thursday, August 18, 2022

MEANWHILE.....

Bolsonaro Charges at Man Who Heckled Him in Front of His Home


Walter Brandimarte
Thu, August 18, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro tried to snatch the mobile phone of a young man who cursed at the conservative president in front of his home in Brasilia, where he frequently stops to greet supporters.

Video footage published by G1 website on Thursday shows the president leaving his car and lunging at the man who was holding up his phone, apparently to shoot a video, while hurling insults at the leader.

The president, who’s up for re-election in October, grabbed the man by the arm and collar before bodyguards intervened, throwing the heckler to the ground.

Bolsonaro’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brazil’s presidential campaign officially started this week amid growing polarization between supporters of Bolsonaro and his leftist challenger, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who’s leading the race.

Brazil's Bolsonaro grabs at heckler, tries to take phone


Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attends a Holy Supper Service held by the Evangelical Parliamentary Front at the headquarters of the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)


MAURICIO SAVARESE
Thu, August 18, 2022 

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro briefly grappled with a heckler and tried to snatch his phone on Thursday, underscoring possible challenges for the sometimes quick-tempered leader to stay disciplined on the campaign trail.

As Bolsonaro spoke to supporters outside his residence in the capital city of Brasilia, social media influencer Wilker Leão used his phone to film himself repeatedly shouting at the president, calling him “coward,” “bum” and the “darling” of a pork-barrel faction in Congress.

Bolsonaro first entered his car, but then reemerged and grabbed the man’s shirt and forearm while reaching for his phone. Security guards pulled Leão away.

The presidential campaign that kicked off Tuesday is expected to be an uphill battle for Bolsonaro, who trails former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in all polls ahead of the Oct. 2 first round vote.

A journalist from news website G1 published a video of Leão's comments and the subsequent altercation.

“Don’t film this, don’t film this,” Bolsonaro told his supporters as Leão was held by presidential security. “It is his right (to protest), but he was being impolite.”

Four minutes later, security allowed Leão to return to the scene and chat with Bolsonaro about politics. The two have spoken several times before, without incident.

“You can talk to me as much as you want,” Bolsonaro told Leão. The two spoke for five minutes until the president decided to go back to his car and leave.

Bolsonaro has had earlier confrontations, often with the press. In 2020, he told a journalist, “I want to punch you in the mouth" and once suggested he'd like to shoot supporters of the rival Workers' Party.

Mario Sergio Lima, a senior Brazil analyst at Medley Advisors, said the incident will weigh against Bolsonaro at a moment he could start his campaign in a more positive tone to pick up support.

“It was a very bad sequence for the president in electoral terms. It shows a lack of restraint and should be used against him by their opponent's campaigns,” Lima told The Associated Press in a phone interview.


MR LAWNORDER
Brazil federal police accuse Bolsonaro of COVID-linked scaremongering



Brazil's President Bolsonaro leads a motorcade rally, in Brasilia

Wed, August 17, 2022 

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's federal police on Wednesday accused President Jair Bolsonaro of discouraging mask use during the pandemic and falsely suggesting that people who got vaccinated against COVID-19 ran the risk of contracting AIDS.

In a document sent to Brazil's Supreme Court, a police delegate said Bolsonaro's effort to discourage compliance with pandemic-linked health measures amounted to a crime, while his effort to link AIDS with vaccination amounted to a misdemeanor.

The police asked Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is in charge of the probe, to authorize the police to charge Bolsonaro and others involved in the case.

In a social media livestream last October, the far-right president said, without presenting any evidence, that UK government reports had shown that people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 had developed AIDS.

Bolsonaro, who has declined to take the vaccine, was temporarily suspended from both Facebook and YouTube after the comments.

The police said additional steps were needed to conclude the investigations, including hearing from Bolsonaro.

The solicitor general's office, which typically provides legal representation for the president, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Peter Frontini; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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