Supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro who have been blocking a highway in Novo Progresso, a city in the Amazonian state of Pará, on Monday attacked Federal Highway Police officers who were trying to clear the road.
There were several gunshots, and one officer was injured. A child required hospitalization for intoxication by the gas spray used by the police. Protesters also threw stones and other objects at four police vehicles.
Dissatisfied with the results of the presidential election, which saw President Bolsonaro lose by a slim margin to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, protesters have been blocking a stretch of the BR-163 highway that cuts through the municipality since October 30. Over the course of the week, hundreds of blockades were recorded in various parts of the country. Most had been cleared by Monday.
Mr. Bolsonaro had one of his best results in the city of Novo Progresso — he received nearly 83 percent of the valid vote. The area is one of the main deforestation hotspots in the Amazon. It was there that, in 2019, farmers organized a series of simultaneous blazes that became known as “Fire Day.”
Lula has promised to crack down on illegal deforestation and roll back the permissiveness towards environmental crimes fomented by Mr. Bolsonaro’s administration.
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