Thousands in Brazil protest court order to remove alleged 'propaganda'
262 views · Published 1 November 2018 · 2:30 · Indexed 30 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(26 Oct 2018) Thousands of people gathered in front of Rio de Janeiro's electoral court on Friday to protest its ruling forcing universities to remove banners containing allegedly illegal electoral propaganda. The protests took place two days before Brazilians return to the polls for the second round of the country's presidential elections. Students and professors denounced the court, saying it was exercising censorship and working in favour of far-right presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is set to face the left-wing Workers' Party (PT) candidate, Fernando Haddad, on October 28. Earlier, the Rio de Janeiro chapter of the Brazilian Bar Association said in a statement that the court's decision was an attempt to limit the freedom of expression of students and professors at the law school of the Fluminense Federal University. Bolsonaro's name was not on the banner that read "Law Students Against Fascism." It was taken down earlier this week but students quickly replaced it with one that said "Censored". At Rio de Janeiro's State University a banner honouring murdered human rights activist and city council member Marielle Franco was also taken down. Franco and her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes, were killed in April while returning from an event focused on empowering young black women. The G1 news portal reported that similar rulings have affected 13 universities in seven states. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/1e35a95b3937ef3c7b2915b7b6bb712c
