Tens of 1000’s of individuals flooded Brazil’s capital to attend the inauguration of Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva because the nation’s new president.
The veteran leftist defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in October’s election to return for a 3rd time period that supporters hope will flip the web page on 4 turbulent and divisive years.
The gang of individuals gathered close to the seat of energy in Brasilia on Sunday sang on the prime of their lungs, parading with carnival-style flare and waving large pink and rainbow flags.
A gaggle of Indigenous dancers coated in physique paint performed conventional percussion devices and sang.
“Shake your maracas, life will get higher with Lula as president,” went their track, echoing the charismatic however controversial ex-president’s promise to “make Brazil pleased once more”, like throughout the growth years of his first presidency (2003-2010).
Indigenous teams have been among the many greatest critics of Bolsonaro, who pushed to open their protected reservations to mining and presided over a surge within the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
“I got here to see Lula’s inauguration as a result of I don’t like Bolsonaro. Not like him, Lula respects Indigenous peoples,” mentioned Indigenous chief Bepkriti Teseia, 42, sporting an enormous feather headdress and talking by an interpreter.
Followers from throughout the nation stood in big traces to filter by the tight safety cordon across the presidential palace and Congress, belting out chants as they waited, corresponding to “Lula, guerreiro do povo brasileiro!” (Lula, warrior of the Brazilian individuals).
Most have been decked out within the pink of Lula’s Staff’ Occasion (PT). However 15-year-old Sofia de Souza Martins got here in Brazilian yellow and inexperienced, which Bolsonaro supporters had claimed as their image.
“These colors belong to everybody,” mentioned the Sao Paulo high-school pupil, who travelled some 1,000km (greater than 600 miles) by bus for the occasion, which the outgoing president snubbed by flying off to the US state of Florida on Friday.