There are negative headlines about Brazil’s right-wing extremist president almost every day, but this surpasses quite a few …
On the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome, Jair Bolsonaro’s (66) security personnel are said to have used brute force against journalists, according to media reports.
According to an article in the Brazilian newspaper “O Globo”, TV journalist Leonardo Monteiro of TV Globo was punched and poked in the stomach by Bolsonaro’s security guards. He asked why Bolsonaro did not take part in the G20 events on Sunday.
“O Globo” condemns the aggression against its correspondent Leonardo Monteiro and other colleagues in Rome in the strongest possible way and calls for a comprehensive examination of the responsibilities, “said TV Globo in a statement.
A video recorded by another journalist shows chaotic scenes with security forces harassing the press and Bolsonaro supporters berating the journalists. It is still unclear whether the security forces were Brazilians or Italians.
The Bolsonaros office and the press team at the G20 summit have not yet responded to inquiries.
Possible reason for the attack: the weekend in Rome was generally bad for Bolsonaro. Videos from G20 events showed him as an isolated figure. He was missing from the photo taken at the Trevi Fountain with the heads of state and government. On the streets of Rome, he was loudly criticized for his handling of the pandemic in his country and called by critics as a “genocide”.
More than 600,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Brazil, the second highest number in the world after the United States. The far-right president is held primarily responsible for the government’s failure in the corona pandemic. Bolsonaro are accused of violating health measures, inciting criminal offenses and crimes against humanity, among other things.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bolsonaro had repeatedly boycotted protective measures, spoke out against vaccinations and instead bought ineffective anti-malaria drugs on a large scale.