Thousands participate in Protest rallies In Brazil Against President Bolsonaro

Brazilians are up in arms against their current president – Jair Bolsonaro – a right wing politician - they blame for his lethargy, apathy and inaction in wake of Covid-19 induced pandemic which has caused around 461,000 deaths – second most number of deaths in the world, after USA.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets demonstrating against Bolsonaro across the country - from Salvador in northeast to Belo Horizonte in the southeast – including Rio de Janeiro and capital city Brasilia. In the city of Recife police had to resort to tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.

More than 10,000 protestors marched in Rio de Janeiro, wearing masks chanting "Bolsonaro genocide" or "Go away Bolsovirus."

The demonstrations are not new against President Bolsonaro’s chaotic handling of the Covid pandemic that began months ago. The far-right wing politician Bolsonaro has been accused of many wrong actions and sometimes with naïve reasons – like Covid-19 was "a little flu"; and sometimes with ill-intent - as the death toll rose he was opposing stay-at-home measures (because of his capitalist leanings), touting ineffective medications, refusing offers of vaccines (calling the easily available as ‘Chinese’ Vaccine), and failing to anticipate oxygen shortages that left patients to suffocate and many-a-times death.

Many Brazilians rue that if the Bolsonaro government had started Brazil's vaccination drive earlier and effectively – many lives could have been saved. The vaccine drive is quite slow and has sputtered frequently for lack of supplies.

A businessman Omar Silveira told media in Rio during a rally, "We must stop this government. We must say 'enough is enough.' He (Bolsonaro) is a murderer, a psychopath. He has no feelings. He does not feel, as we do. He cannot perceive the disaster that he is causing."

Demonstrators also feel that Bolsonaro has been at fault where indigenous, minorities and underprivileged rights are concerned. They cite allowing deforestation of the Amazon and land seizures from indigenous people, and said he encourages violence and racism.

In one of the largest demonstrations to hit the city of Brasilia, a huge march was organised which demonstrated in front of the Congress, where a senate commission is investigating Bolsonaro's handling of the health crisis.

Earlier, one of the major reasons cited for loss of Trump in the Presidential elections was his poor performance during Covid-19 pandemic. Many of his actions mirror those of Bolsonaro’s, maybe because he too was a right wing politician.

Recently, a twitter poll on which world leader was the worst in Covid-19 pandemic response by a news website The Conversation, found mentions of both Trump and Bolsonaro – but they together had not been able to get more than 10 per cent of all the votes polled. The same polls had found the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi fetching over 90% of all the votes polled.