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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Rachel Hagan

Protestors burn tyres and set up huge roadblocks after Bolsonaro loses Brazil election

Demonstrators unhappy at the Brazilian election results were pictured burning tyres and blocking main roads in protest against the country's new leftist leader.

“The cars crossed the BR [Brazilian highway]. They did not accept the election decision and locked everything up”, one person said in a video in the Santa Catarina city of Palhoça.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gained 50.9 percent and Jair Bolsonaro at 49.1 percent, with some two million votes separating the two.

While a steady stream of world leaders — the US, the UK, Russia, France, and China, among others — have come forward to show their support, Bolsonaro has yet to concede, but his supporters are furious at the results.

Blockade in Varzea Grande in Mato Grosso state, Brazil (REUTERS)

Brazil’s road network unit agents spent election day mounting roadblocks and barriers across the country as they braced for protests.

Truckers organised blockades on different roads across the country in protest of Lula's victory, and images showed demonstrations on state and federal highways in at least five states.

Brazil’s far-right president, Mr Bolsonaro, remained silent after losing the election to his leftist rival Mr Lula.

“So far, Bolsonaro has not called me to recognise my victory, and I don’t know if he will call or if he will recognise my victory,” Lula told tens of thousands of supporters celebrating his win on Sao Paulo’s Paulista Ave.

Demonstrators sit in front a truck as they block federal roads during a protest (REUTERS)

The defeat made Bolsonaro the first serving president in Brazilian history to be voted out of office, and Lula will take over on January 1 2023.

The right-wing leader previously spent months spouting unfounded claims that the country’s electronic voting system is plagued by fraud and that the courts, media, and other institutions conspired against him.

Three out of four of Mr Bolsonaro’s supporters trust Brazil’s voting system only a little or not at all, according to multiple polls over the past several months.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro walks at Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, on October 31, 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)

Some are concerned that Bolsonaro, who was given the name "Tropical Trump", may follow in the footsteps of former US President Donald Trump and refuse to accept defeat in a bid to keep his political movement alive.

The news website UOL said Bolsonaro was “holed up” in the presidential residence in Brasília.

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