At least 17 states in Brazil have registered protests by supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, with more than 100 road blockades for the third consecutive day since the elections that gave victory to leftist candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The Federal Highway Police (PRF) has reported that nearly 2,000 drivers have been fined between Monday and Wednesday for disrupting traffic, bringing the total amount to nearly 18 million Brazilian reais (3.5 million euros).
The PRF also specified that, at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday (local time), the number of blockages amounted to 167 compared to the 271 points registered in the early hours of Tuesday morning, as reported by the newspaper ‘O Globo’.
The protests have been going on since former president Lula won Sunday’s elections. His rival, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, spoke out on Tuesday after more than 48 hours in silence, without talking about his defeat and stressing only that he would comply with the Constitution.
In his brief statement, the leader of the Brazilian ultra-right rejected those who have branded him as «anti-democratic» over the years and assured to have always moved «within the four lines of the Constitution».
Although he described the road blockades as a manifestation of «indignation» and «injustice» for «how the electoral process took place», he asked that they take place in a «peaceful» manner to make it clear that they do not act like the left, whose methods «always harmed the population».
His speech came after the governors of several Brazilian states decided on Tuesday to mobilize the Military Police, which depends directly on the regions, in view of the apparent federal inaction to eliminate the road blockades.
The Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes, endorsed that the state security forces could be deployed to collaborate in the tasks that, theoretically, correspond to the PRF, which depends on the central government.
