Pro-government demos give Bolsonaro some breathing room

In 156 cities across all states, over 100,000 people took to the streets to defend Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right president. According to a survey carried out by professors Luiza Aguiar, Pablo Ortellado, and Márcio Moretto on São Paulo’s Paulista Avenue, among the principal demands put forward by demonstrators included support for the government’s pension reform bill, mentioned by 75 percent of attendants.

However, radical agendas also found space to flourish. Six percent of respondents cited the shutdown of Congress and the Supreme Court as their reason for spending a sunny Sunday holding placards, dressed in yellow and green, and shouting in favor of the president. We also witnessed some of the same anti-feminist, anti-Workers’ Party rhetoric that propelled Mr. Bolsonaro from Congress backbencher to President of Brazil.

However, while those agendas helped galvanize a part of the crowd, they also kept other conservative groups away. The most prominent example being the Free Brazil Movement (MBL), dubbed “traitors” by many of Sunday’s speakers.

The pro-government...