Brazil’s Independence Day Celebrated with Mourning. Commemorations of September 7 in Brazil register reduced attendance. The lawn of the Esplanade of Ministries registered little public, on the morning of September 7, in Brasilia. Participants who attended the parade were in stands set up by the government. A day earlier, the Executive came to summon public servants for the act and paid some militants so that the event was not emptied.
Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro and opponents of the Lula government put the hashtag “flopou” in the most commented subjects of X, former Twitter, to criticize September 7 this year. The term is used to designate an empty or unsuccessful event. “Where are [President Lula’s] 60 million voters?” one social media user asked.
In fact, the popularity of former President Bolsonaro is unparalleled with that of Lula. In financial terms, Lula’s spending on the independence day parade in Brasilia was 150% higher than the spending of the previous Bolsonaro government. And even then it did not get public because Lula does not have the affection of the largest portion of the population.
Users made publications with videos and images not only of the event in Brasilia, where the official military parade of September 7 is held, but also of other states, such as Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia.
Other social media users posted images of the parades in 2022, comparing the commemoration of the dates.
Empty hotels in Brasília
Data released by Abih (Brazilian Association of the Hotel Industry) show that hotels in Brasilia had 43% occupancy during the holiday this year. The rate is twice as low as in the previous two years (2022 and 2021), when Jair Bolsonaro was in power. Occupancy in these years was 80% and 73%, respectively.
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In Brazil, Lula and the supreme court have taken away people’s freedom of expression with arrests and fines. In addition, Lula has significantly increased taxes in the country.
In the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, people protested wearing black with the phrase “Lula out”
