Hundreds of Brazilians living in Portugal gathered in front of Belém Palace this Friday, forcing police to step up security measures to “host” Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On one side of the barricade dozens of supporters of the elected president and on the other side many dozens of supporters of the defeated president, Jair Messias Bolsonaro.
The radical polarization of Brazilian politics is everywhere and Lisbon – the largest Brazilian city outside Brazil in terms of registered voters, about 45 thousand – is no exception, manifesting itself in front of the Belém Palace, where Lula was received by the Portuguese president. The PSP managed to avoid direct confrontations.
The Brazilian community – the largest foreign community in Portugal, with some 250,000 people and a steady growth in recent years – traditionally voted for the right, but in the last elections the situation was reversed: Lula clearly won Bolsonaro, both in the first round as in Monday.
Hailing from Egypt where he took part in COP 27, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – who is joined by Fernando Haddad, the PT candidate who defeated Bolsonaro in 2018 and who has now been defeated again (by Bolsonarist Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas) in the candidacy for governor from São Paulo – landed in Lisbon after noon and was soon taken to Campo de Ourique.
Had lunch with Brazilian businessmen in Portugal at Cicero Bistrota restaurant (with an art gallery) where, according to the relevant website, the Portuguese chef Hugo Cortez Teixeira, “based on years of experience in kitchens using French techniques, such as that of restaurant Eleven, offers in addition to Henrique Sá Pessoa’s space” “a dialogue between signature cuisine and Luso-Brazilian ingredients”, in menus that can go up to 95 euros per person (but if it’s just an omelette with a glass of wine, it’s 22 euros).
The information that Lula was having lunch in this restaurant soon made its way to Twitter and ended up as Brazil’s president-elect surrounded by some supporters, who greeted his presence by shouting slogans like “Warrior Lula, of the Brazilian people” . Today Lula da Silva will meet with supporters and leaders of the Brazilian community in Portugal.
They discovered that Lula was having lunch in Lisbon and the result was this one for the restaurant. How much difference! pic.twitter.com/RfTxY5pUxN
– Tauat Resende | @tauat (@eutaaut) November 18, 2022
Then you go to the hotel where you are staying. He then left again for Belém, where he was to be received by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at 5 p.m. And here everything worked with some improvisation.
At 3 p.m., the Portuguese PR began hosting his counterpart from Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi. However, this meeting took longer than expected and at the same time Lula arrived in Belém about twenty minutes before the scheduled time.
So Marcelo decided to join the public, let Brazil’s president-elect participate in the meeting that was already taking place with the Mozambican head of state – and, apparently, allow the meeting to be recorded by photographers and cameramen. Marcelo and Lula ended up being together in Belém for about an hour and a quarter, with neither of them making any statements to journalists.
At 8pm Lula was already at the Palacete de São Bento, for dinner with the Prime Minister, António Costa – who welcomed him with a hug and showed with his fingers the L symbol of Lula’s campaign in Brazil. Once again, supporters on both sides of the Brazilian barricade met at the door, with the PSP in the middle to discourage direct confrontation.
In Belém, the two groups of dozens of demonstrators — slightly more on the side against Lula da Silva — had less than five meters to separate them, according to Lusa, behind metal bars and in front of a reinforced police detachment.
“Lula thief, your place is in jail,” protesters shouted as they challenged Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s election victory in the October 30 presidential election. “Brazil, Brazil, Brazil, victory,” Lula’s supporters responded in turn.
Businessman Daniel Rolha, who has lived in Portugal for 18 years, said that despite the clear divisions among the Brazilians concentrated in front of Belém Palace, “Brazil is not a divided country”. “I do not believe in a divided Brazil, but I recognize that Lula da Silva’s great challenge is to unite Brazilians.”
Business administrator Joyce, who has lived in Portugal for six years, said she stood in front of Belém’s palace “to protest corruption and the theft of Jair Bolsonaro’s election victory” in the Oct. 30 elections. Asked about the inevitability of Lula da Silva taking office on Jan. 1, Joyce, who refused to reveal his nickname, was imperative: “The armed forces will not allow it.”
Next to him were many posters with the text “SOS Forças Armadas”, one of the wishes of Bolsonaro supporters, during the demonstrations inside and outside Brazil since the announcement of the election results. Lula da Silva’s supporters were the first to leave the rally, followed some time later by those of Bolsonaro. From the 21st to the 24th, the still Vice President of Brazil, General Hamilton Mourão, will be in Lisbon.
Source: DN
