Protests against Brazil's Supreme Court and Justice Alexandre de Moraes were held in at least seven state capitals on Monday (7), running parallel to the Independence Day military parades across the country. According to G1, right-wing parties and movements organized the rallies under the slogans "Fora Lula" and "Fora Moraes", roughly "Lula out" and "Moraes out".
In Brasília, two groups gathered in the city's Plano Piloto core and demanded the removal of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and of Moraes. Demonstrators also criticized Senate President Davi Alcolumbre for refusing to put an impeachment request against the justice to a vote. One group protested outside the Central Bank.
Where the rallies took place
In the Northeast, the group Movimento Brasil organized a march in Maceió from the Corredor Vera Arruda to the Marco dos Corais that criticized Moraes and backed Justice André Mendonça, also of the court. In Recife, protesters met on Avenida Boa Viagem in the south of the city on Monday afternoon and called for Moraes to be suspended; candidates in this year's elections were among those present. In Salvador, a rally at the Farol da Barra backed candidates of the PL, the party of former president Jair Bolsonaro's family, with federal and state lawmakers and city councilors in attendance. In São Luís, a motorcycle caravan organized by right-wing movements crossed the city and ended downtown.
In Belo Horizonte, the União dos Movimentos de Direita de Minas Gerais called a rally at Praça da Liberdade that organizers described as nonpartisan. In Goiânia, right-wing leaders gathered at Praça Tamandaré in the city center; no attendance figure was released.
São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro saw no anti-Moraes rallies. In São Paulo, presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro of the PL spoke on Avenida Paulista as the crowd chanted "Fora Lula, Fora Moraes". Vice presidential candidate Alfredo Gaspar told the rally that "there is no Lula without Alexandre". Folha de S.Paulo reported that messages exchanged between Moraes and Daniel Vorcaro, of Banco Master, fueled the calls to mobilize. In Rio, candidate Augusto Cury of Avante sent "a very special hug to doctor André Mendonça" at an event in Copacabana and made no mention of the court's crisis.
The next chapter is institutional. According to CNN Brasil, Justice Edson Fachin is waiting for explanations from Moraes and Mendonça within the five-day deadline he set for them. In the Senate, the impeachment request against Moraes remains unscheduled, a decision that rests with Alcolumbre.