“Workers have never been under such attack, with a loss of rights and rising unemployment and poverty. In addition, we now see Brazil’s best former president become a political prisoner,” Wagner Freitas, head of the CUT labour federation, said.May Day marches were also held in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, as well as in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, the country’s capital, and cities in at least 10 other states.
Lula, 72, who continues to lead the polls ahead of October’s presidential election, was convicted for allegedly accepting an apartment in exchange for helping Brazilian construction company OAS obtain lucrative contracts from state oil company Petrobras, in the context of a larger $2 billion corruption scandal centred on the oil giant. The former president maintains his innocence, while prosecutors have failed to produce any evidence that Lula was the legal owner of the residence or even that he ever set foot inside.
“There is a growing awareness that this was all just a manoeuvre to prevent Lula from running in the 2018 elections,” former Cabinet minister Fernando Haddad said.
President Temer’s policies were also deplored during Brazil’s May Day marches, including a constitutional ceiling on government spending and an overhaul of labour laws that is expected to lead to lower wages amid an unemployment rate of 13.1 per cent.
Tuesday’s demonstrations also included calls to end violence against leftist movements and activists, just two days after a shooting attack against the “Free Lula” protest camp in Curitiba left two people injured, and a little over a month after Rio de Janeiro city councillor Marielle Franco was assassinated.
