Bolsonaro intensifies open threats on Brazil’s democracy

President Jair Bolsonaro renewed his threats against Brazil's democracy in a speech on Tuesday before thousands of supporters, many of whom openly called for the installation of a military dictatorship.

Speaking at a rally in the capital, Brasília, the far-right leader said he would convene a Council of the Republic on Wednesday and show it an image of the gathering "and with this photograph of you show where we should be heading".

Brazil’s constitution defines the council as a consultative body to advise the president in moments of crisis. Congressional leaders who form part of the body said they were unaware of any scheduled meeting.

Mr Bolsonaro has issued an increasing number of open threats against the country’s democratic institutions in recent months as his administration has become besieged by mounting legal, economic and political woes.

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The demonstrations organised across Brazil on its Independence Day holiday were a bid to show he still retains support despite polls showing a majority of Brazilians want him impeached.

But the march in Brasília was smaller than trailed by organisers and Mr Bolsonaro spoke for just a few minutes before flying to São Paulo for the day's main gathering, held in the country's biggest city.

Court threat

Before leaving he warned the head of the supreme court to rein in the court’s judge overseeing investigations into his administration and supporters, “or else this power could suffer that which we don’t want”.

In his speech, Mr Bolsonaro responded directly to the arrest of a number of his supporters as part of the investigation overseen by supreme court judge Alexandre de Moraes into alleged efforts to undermine the country’s democracy.

“We cannot continue accepting that a specific person ... continues barbarising our population. We cannot accept more political imprisonments in our Brazil,” he said.

Among those Mr Moraes has ordered arrested are the leader of a pro-Bolsonaro party who called for shutting down the supreme court, and a conservative blogger who in a live broadcast on social media said a businessman was offering money for the “head” of the supreme court judge.

The president and his supporters have increasingly focused their attacks on the supreme court, and Mr Moraes in particular, as his investigation into the administration's suspected co-ordination of a covert operation to systematically spread disinformation closes in on his son, Carlos Bolsonaro.

Also under investigation is the financing of Tuesday’s rallies, with many supporters from rural regions where support for Mr Bolsonaro remains strong having been bussed to São Paulo for the main rally.