Thousands of students and teachers marched in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday to express support for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration and reject the possible election of Flávio Bolsonaro, after first-round results set up a tight runoff for October 25.
Demonstrators carried banners with messages including “Out Bolsonaro,” “Lula president,” “Students are anti-fascist,” “Brazil is not anyone’s backyard,” and “I don’t vote for someone who sells Brazil,” warning of the risks of a conservative turn and defending social rights advanced by the progressive leader during his current term and previous periods between 2003 and 2010.
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A 20-year-old literature student, João Victor Vieira, said that if Bolsonaro wins, Brazil would become a colony of the United States, stressing that the conservative platform represents a direct threat to minorities, women and the LGBTQ+ community. He acknowledged feeling discouraged by Sunday’s electoral results but said hope remains intact, adding that the protest shows social movements are still very much alive and will resist.
Talita Amaral, a 19-year-old environmental sciences university student, said the marchers were fighting for Brazil, not for Lula. She wore a yellow and green Brazilian national football team shirt — a color traditionally associated with right-wing supporters — to explain it was a gesture aimed at reclaiming national symbols. She added that there is no time to be sad, and that they must occupy the streets and send messages in WhatsApp groups to try to convince people, while chants in support of the current president were heard.
Progressive sectors expressed concern that a right-wing administration could subordinate foreign policy to Washington, given the Bolsonaro family’s close ideological ties to U.S. President Donald Trump, who previously imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian products and sanctions against a Supreme Federal Court judge.
The massive demonstration follows first-round results in Brazil, where neither Bolsonaro — son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for an attempted coup — nor Lula da Silva exceeded the 50% of votes required to decide the presidency, forcing a second round scheduled for October 25.
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