Fresh protests in Brazil against Bolsonaro's handling of Covid pandemic
Country’s death toll nears 500,000 as opposition to the president grows and vaccination rates remain low
Flávia Milhorance in Rio de Janeiro
Sat 19 Jun 2021 15.01 EDT
Thousands of Brazilians returned to the streets on Saturday in protest against the response of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration to a pandemic that has killed close on half a million people in the country – the most after the United States.
On the second day of demonstrations in less than a month, the anti-Bolsonaro mobilisation is gaining momentum amid an ascendant curve of Covid-19 infections, while only 11% of 212 million Brazilians have been fully vaccinated, according to local media.
The Brazilian president, who has undermined the pandemic and resisted containment measures, is being investigated by a congressional inquiry as his administration has lagged behind in acquiring vaccines but pushed the use of ineffective drugs such as chloroquine.
Schoolteacher Paola Queiroz, 46, said the pandemic “has been of losses: of friends, of joy, of hope in the future”. Despite that, she took to the streets of Presidente Vargas Avenue, in central Rio de Janeiro, using “humour as a weapon” in what she called the “zero response of the president” against coronavirus. Queiroz wore a costume criticising doctor Nise Yamaguchi, whom she called the “pseudo scientist who advised Bolsonaro” to adopt ineffective drugs.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/19/fresh-protests-in-brazil-against-bolsonaros-handling-of-covid-pandemic
