By Gabriel Araujo
SAO PAULO, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Brazil’s opposition is set to take to the streets on Independence Day on Monday, as right-wing presidential hopeful Senator Flavio Bolsonaro seeks to capitalize on a crisis engulfing the country’s Supreme Court to bolster his campaign against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ahead of next month’s election.
Organizers have cast the rally as a protest against Lula’s government and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, whose aggressive pursuit of former President Jair Bolsonaro, the senator’s father, over a coup plot that led to the former president’s conviction has made him one of Brazil’s most polarizing figures.
The main protest on Paulista Avenue, Sao Paulo’s most traditional stage for political demonstrations, comes at a politically sensitive moment as opinion polls show the senator running neck and neck with leftist Lula.
“We have a commitment to Brazil. Out Lula! Out Moraes! Independence and our freedom must be defended,” Senator Bolsonaro said in a social media post calling supporters to Paulista Avenue.
“We are the last obstacle preventing Brazil from becoming a dictatorship,” he added in a separate post.
FOLLOWING IN HIS FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS
The senator is following in his father’s footsteps, frequently invoking Independence Day and other patriotic symbols to rally support for what he portrays as a struggle against a corrupt political establishment.
The senator has so far struggled to mobilize the tens of thousands his father used to attract in his defense, but this time the demonstration follows an unprecedented conflict between justices that has engulfed Brazil’s Supreme Court and raised difficult questions about Moraes’ conduct.
The feud erupted after Justice Andre Mendonca, a Bolsonaro appointee, disclosed a report raising questions about alleged contacts between Moraes and a banker accused of leading a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme, prompting calls for an investigation of the justice.
Moraes responded by seeking an investigation into Mendonca for alleged abuse of authority.
A large turnout on Monday could strengthen calls for investigations into Moraes.
The controversy could also provide a boost to Flavio Bolsonaro, who has argued that his father, currently under house arrest and barred from running for office, is the victim of political persecution by Moraes.
“Brazil has a unique opportunity to remove Alexandre de Moraes from the Supreme Court,” said former lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, the senator’s brother.
Lula, meanwhile, is expected to attend the annual Independence Day military parade in Brasilia, maintaining a tradition observed by Brazilian presidents.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Debora Ely; Editing by Manuela Andreoni)
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