Tens of thousands of people rallied in over 200 cities and towns across Brazil Saturday to protest President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed some 460,000 people in the country, per the Guardian.
The big picture: Bolsonaro has frequently downplayed the pandemic despite soaring cases, with hospitals overstretched. Saturday’s protests, organized by leftist groups, remained peaceful in most cities, but police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators in Recife, northeast Brazil, Reuters notes.
A protester kicks a papier mache head depicting Bolsonaro at a rally in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Fernando Souza/picture alliance via Getty ImagesDemonstrators gather during a protest on Avenida Paulista in Sao Paulo on May 29. Photo: Cristina Szucinski/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesMembers of opposition parties and social movements participate in a protest while displaying a large inflatable caricature of the president in the country’s capital, Brasilia, on May 29. Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty ImagesAnti-Bolsonaro protesters in Belo Horizonte, the capital of southeastern Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, on May 29. Photo: Douglas Magno/AFP via Getty Images A demonstrator wears a protective face mask that states in Portuguese: “Bolsonaro out” during a rally May 29 in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Buda Mendes/Getty ImagesA demonstrator holds a sign stating that oxygen has became a privilege during a protest a at the Praca da Liberdade in Belo Horizonte on May 29. Photo: Douglas Magno/AFP via Getty Images
Go deeper: Brazilian Senate launches probe into government’s handling of pandemic
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with more photos.
