Road and highway blockades ),
Taubaté, São Paulo. Supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro, including truck drivers, started blockades across the country on the night of 30 October, when the election results were announced. Until the night of 31 October, the PRF (
Federal Highway Police) had registered 321 points of blockages or agglomerations on roads in 25 states and the Federal District. The state with the highest number of blocks was
Santa Catarina. The Federal Highway Police announced on 9 November that all federal highways had been cleared of roadblocks and interdictions with a total of 1,087 demonstrations being broken up. Truckers again started blockading roads on 18 November. The Federal Highway Police later stated that the new blockades were different from the previous ones, noting that protesters adopted violent methods which occurred mostly at night.
Attempted invasion of the Guarulhos Airport On the night of October 31, at 8:00 pm, around 50 Bolsonaro supporters closed the two runways of the
Hélio Smidt Highway, which provides access to
Guarulhos International Airport, which caused delays and flight cancellations. In the early hours of November 1, protesters invaded the runway, a video captured a man wearing a Federal Highway Police uniform cutting the fence to allow Bolsonaro supporters to enter. The following day, PRF agents cleared the highway. In all, 25 flights were canceled. An internal investigation by the PRF confirmed that some agents of the corporation were in fact helping the protesters.
Standoffs with organized football club fans On 1 November, members of the , organized fans of
Corinthians dispersed protesters that were interdicting the
Marginal Tietê, the main highway in São Paulo, and unfurled a banner saying "We are for democracy". The following day, more fans mobilized against the blockade on the Presidente Dutra Highway (BR-116), which connects São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, dispersing the demonstrators and removing signs and flags that called for federal intervention. Members of , organized association football fans of
Atlético Mineiro, also broke through roadblocks on 1 November, when fans put out tires and cleared traffic on
Rodovia Fernão Dias (BR-381), which connects
Belo Horizonte to São Paulo.
Attacks against police and civilians On 1 November, protesters threatened to burn alive students from the
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) on the grounds that they were supposedly supporters of president-elect Lula.
Novo Progresso riots Novo Progresso was the most pro-Bolsonaro municipality in
Pará in 2022, with Jair Bolsonaro winning 79.60% of the votes in the first round of the elections. The municipality was also known for its high deforestation rates. In 2011, part of the population entered into conflict with the
Ibama to defend Ezequiel Antônio Castanha, the greatest deforester of the
Amazon rainforest of all time. On November 1, the
Federal Public Ministry (MPF) had already requested that the PF investigate and arrest the organizers and participants of the protests in the state. Protests began in the city on October 30, the day that Jair Bolsonaro's defeat at the polls was announced. On November 2, Ruan Carlos Rodrigues Porto, deputy commander of the
Military Police (PM) in the city, was fired for refusing to comply with the unblocking order. 2 days later, on November 4, protesters cut down several trees to block km 332 of the
BR-163, including a
chestnut tree at risk of extinction that was over a hundred years old and 30 meters tall. The highway was cleared by the PRF the following day, and the MPF asked police officers and the Ibama to investigate the case. During the standoff, police used
pepper spray to disperse the population, the blockade had affected fuel supplies and the city council had cancelled classes and rubbish collection. On 7 November, Federal Highway Police officers attempted to negotiate a peaceful demobilization of the protest, but were attacked by protesters. The protesters threw stones and shot at four vehicles while shouting profanities, a child was poisoned by gas thrown by the police to contain the protesters and had to be hospitalized, one police officer was also injured during the standoff. The Shock Troops of the police were later called to participate in the unblocking. On the 19th, the highway was completely blocked again. Six people were temporarily arrested and four became fugitives, one of the fugitives, Claudia Kummer, a 48-year-old teacher and civil servant, was identified as the organizer of the protests, her defense argued that she was innocent and was not in Novo Progresso at the time of her arrest because she was undergoing surgery in
Sinop, even though on November 2, she had recorded a video calling for violent protests. On the 29th, the arrested were released. Later, on January 8 2023, after the riots in Brasília, protesters yet again closed the BR-163 and set fire to tires, though the protest was later dispersed by Federal Highway and Military Police.
Salute similar to the Nazi salute during protests On 2 November, in the blockade carried out on the SC-163 highway, in
São Miguel do Oeste, Santa Catarina, the protesters held a solemn moment to celebrate the
Brazilian National Anthem, during which they made gestures similar to the
Nazi salute. Videos of the event were widely shared, and caused numerous reactions of astonishment and condemnation. The state of Santa Catarina has already registered a large expansion of
neo-Nazi groups in recent years. Earlier that year, in an operation carried out in October, members of the neo-Nazi group (New SS of Santa Catarina) were arrested. The group had melee weapons, handcrafts and 3D printers intended for the manufacture of weapons. The current deputy governor of the state, and elected federal deputy,
Daniela Reinehr, is the daughter of Altair Reinehr, a notorious propagator of Nazi ideas, which the parliamentarian refuses to publicly condemn. A letter was later sent to the
Federal Police to investigate the threats that Reinehr began to suffer after the act. The
German Embassy issued a note saying that the gesture was an "attack against Brazilian democracy". The
Israeli Embassy also issued a note saying that it was concerned about the action and asked the authorities to take the necessary measures. The State Public Ministry and the Prosecutor's Office of Santa Catarina launched an investigation into the case. However, it had already informed, in a preliminary investigation, that it does not see the practice of crime, and claimed that the gesture was only an "".
Consequences The blockades of roads and highways have affected various sectors of society, such as the meat and milk industries, partial paralysis of the meat industry, and the supply of supermarkets and gas stations. Several hospitals were also affected. There was general concern about the supply of oxygen and other supplies. Some hospitals had to cancel surgeries. The
Butantan Institute informed that a load of eggs that will be used to produce vaccines against the flu is stuck in a blockade near
Jundiaí, 47 km from
São Paulo. If the cargo does not arrive at Butantan, which is located in the west zone of São Paulo, the production of 1.5 million doses of the immunizer against
H3N2 may be compromised. By 9:30 UTC−3 on 1 November, around 25 flights had been canceled at the
São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport due to the blockade of the
Helio Smidt highway by Bolsonarists. The blockades have caused fatal accidents, as in
Várzea Grande, Mato Grosso, where a driver died when his car collided with a truck stopped at a roadblock on
BR-364. In
Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, a motorcyclist died and a woman on the back was injured after crashing into a tanker truck on the urban stretch of
BR-381. At the time of the collision, the truck was maneuvering to return after being blocked at a roadblock. In
Mirassol, São Paulo, a driver ran over protesters on the Washington Luís Highway, leaving 17 injured, including two children. But supporters of Jair Bolsonaro started concentrating in the vicinity of
Brazilian Armed Forces facilities, such as
Military barracks and
Tiro de Guerra buildings, in acts and
vigils against the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva since then. The movement is spread across the country and has no defined national leaders. Demonstrations were recorded at military installations in the cities of
São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro,
Brasília,
Florianópolis,
Recife,
Salvador, among other Brazilian cities and regions. Protesters camped to call for a military coup to prevent the inauguration of
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in some cities. Reports sent by the Military, Civil and Federal Police and by Public Ministries in the states and in the Federal District to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) indicate that politicians, police,
unionists and
ruralists encourage and finance the protests and that most of the demonstrators are
elderly, with a small presence of young people and families. The federal government stated on 11 January that it had prepared for more protests, after messages appeared on pro-Bolsonaro social media channels calling for large protests in Brazilian cities to "retake power". No major protests were however held.
Fake news False or old images of
battle tanks on the streets were spread. Bolsonaro supporters protesting in front of the
Eastern Military Command (
RJ) celebrated and cried after hearing that a "federal intervention" was decreed and that TSE's minister Alexandre de Moraes was "arrested for fraud in the
electronic voting machines", this was later confirmed as being
fake news. The false information that
Lady Gaga would actually be the "prime minister" of the
International Criminal Court located in The Hague went viral on Twitter. The hoax was accompanied by a montage in which the singer appeared to participate in a videoconference with Jair Bolsonaro and claimed that Stefani Germanotta, which is Gaga's real name, was analyzing cases of electoral fraud in Brazil. The International Criminal Court does not hold that post, and Gaga is not a part of the International Criminal Court. False information about the alleged death of
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva were also spread online.
Violence and attempted terrorist attacks On 12 December, after Lula's electoral victory was officially ratified by Brazilian courts, militant hard-right Bolsonaro supporters stormed the
Federal Police headquarters in Brasilia and torched vehicles on the street after one of the protesters was arrested for inciting violence to prevent the swearing-in of Lula. The police used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse them. A bombing attempt near the
Brasília International Airport was prevented by the police on 23 December, and the suspect was arrested a day later. According to his testimony, he was motivated by Bolsonaro casting doubts at the integrity of the election process in past. On 29 December the police tried removing protestors from around the
Brazilian Army headquarters, but were forced to withdraw after they turned violent. A man carrying an explosive device (presumably fireworks) and a knife was arrested on 1 January 2023 while trying to enter the esplanade of Brasília, where government officials and Lula supporters were attending his inauguration. Bolsonaro supporters stormed the buildings of the
National Congress,
Palácio da Alvorada and the
Supreme Federal Court on 8 January and clashed with the police. The rioters smashed some of the property inside the three buildings, publicly urinated and defecated, while the police used pepper spray and tear gas against them. President Lula was not present at the presidential palace when it was stormed. The federal government estimated the total number of intruders in the three buildings as around 5,000. All three federal buildings were later cleared with more than 1,500 people arrested. 684 of them were later released on humanitarian grounds. == Financing ==