Hundreds of Brazilians took to the streets in Sao Paulo and marched against far-right, frontrunner presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro during a protest they called “dictatorship never again”.
Demonstrators, mostly supporters of the leftist Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) danced and shouted “Ele Nao” – meaning “Not Him!” – in response to Bolsonaro’s views on women, the LGBT community, black people and indigenous people.
Bolsonaro scored an emphatic victory in the first round of the presidential election held on Sunday and opinion polls indicate he is on track to beat his leftist rival from the Workers’ Party (PT), Fernando Haddad, in the October 28 run-ff vote.
During the protest, Silvia Ferraro, a leader of the PSOL, talked about the attacks some Haddad supporters and others who demonstrate against Bolsonaro were suffering in recent days.
Ferraro told the story of a 19-year-old girl who was attacked and marked with a swastika for wearing a t-shirt that read “Ele Nao” (“Not Him”).
Other cases of violence have been reported in the local media, such as the killing of a PT supporter in Salvador, Bahia state, after a discussion with a Bolsonaro supporter.
There is a growing uneasiness among Brazilians about Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has expressed nostalgia for Brazil’s military dictatorship.
“I was really sad when I voted, I cried because of what is going to happen in this country,” Caroline Salgao, an anti-Bolsonaro voter, told Al Jazeera.