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Bolsonaro threatens decree to end Covid restrictions: “don’t dare contesting it”

Bolsonaro threatens decree to end Covid restrictions: "don't dare contesting it"
President Jair Bolsonaro during event in Brasília. Photo: Alan Santos/PR

During an event in Brasília on Wednesday morning, Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro threatened to issue a decree banning restriction measures in states and municipalities.

“Don’t dare contesting it, whoever you are,” he said, in a not-so-veiled reference to the Supreme Court, which has stood in the way of Mr. Bolsonaro’s previous attempts to rule by decree and forbid social isolation.

Complaining that religious services must be allowed to go ahead and people must have the “freedom to work,” the president invoked Article 5 of Brazil’s Constitution, which assures the right of citizens to come and go freely during times of peace.

“We want the freedom to hold religious services, we want the freedom to work, we want our right to come and go, no-one can contest that. If I issue this decree, I repeat, it will be carried out.”