Brasilia, May 5 (RHC)-- At least two journalists covering a protest in Brasilia were verbally and physically attacked, according to local media reports during a rally joined by Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday, who once again showed his unconditional support for hundreds gathered in front of the Presidential Palace of Planalto.

Some of the protesters carried signs calling for military intervention and the closure of the two institutions.  Brazil was under a military dictatorship between 1964-1985.  The president himself “begged to God” for his government to “not have problems” next week because he has “reached the limit,” without specifying what he was referring to.

During the crisis, Bolsonaro named the director of the intelligence agency Alexandre Ramagem, a friend of the president’s family, as the new director of the Federal Police.  However, the appointment was canceled by Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes due to Ramagem’s ties to the so-called “Bolsonaro Clan.”

Without making any direct allusion to that ruling, the president said that “he will not admit any more interference” in his government.  “There is no more conversation from here on out.  We will not only demand, but we will also enforce the Constitution, and it will be carried out at any cost,” he said at the event.

Bolsonaro’s presence at the protest generated a wave of criticism from representatives of the legislative and judicial powers, as well as from some governors, who disagree with the president for his lax stance in the face of the coronavirus crisis that has affected more than 7,000 people in Brazil.

“It is up to democratic institutions to impose legal order on that group that confuses doing politics with provoking,” said the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia.  Thirty requests have already arrived at Maia’s office for the impeachment of Bolsonaro, both for his management of the epidemic and for his presence in these far-right acts.

However, the head of the Lower House ruled out days ago initiating an impeachment process at this time because the priority, he said, is the fight against the country’s epidemic.