The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro
Men who guarded the Brazilian president in the Italian capital punched and pushed reporters. According to Globo, Bolsonaro’s “belligerent rhetoric” against journalists “is at the root of this type of attack”.
Brazilian journalists following Jair Bolsonaro’s visit to Rome were harassed by the president and attacked this sunday night by men who guarded the Brazilian head of state during a walk in the center of the Italian capital.
The attacks were directed at journalists from Globo, Folha and UOL, reports Deutsche Welle.
The first incident involved the journalist Ana Estela de Sousa Pinto, from the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, who reported being pushed by a security guard while waiting in front of the Brazilian embassy in the Italian capital, where Bolsonaro is staying.
Shortly thereafter, Bolsonaro left the building and took an impromptu walk to meet with a few dozen supporters who were massing in front of the embassy. generated a riot on the spot.
At that moment, the journalists approached to try to ask questions, having been violently driven away of the Brazilian president. Globo’s correspondent, Leonardo Monteiro, asked Bolsonaro why he did not attend the G20 events this Sunday morning.
“Is it Globo? you have no shame in your face….”, said Bolsonaro. Then the journalist got punched in the stomach of a security guard and was pushed violently.
the journalist Jamil Chad, from the UOL portal, began filming the violence against journalists, and was then pushed by a security guard. grabbed and twisted the arm, taking his cell phone The security guard then threw the phone to the ground, the journalist reported.
Chad also asked Bolsonaro why he will not be attending the COP26 Climate Summits in Glasgow, to which the president replied that “I owe you no satisfaction”.
Shortly before the start of the riots, a Globo assistant waiting to record images of the president was intimidated, having been targeted by screams of “infiltrator” by supporters of the president.
The Brazilian president was in Rome to participate in the G20 summit. Unlike other leaders, Bolsonaro’s schedule has been sparsely filled, and the Brazilian head of state has spent much of his time on tours and meetings with supporters. This was Bolsonaro’s third outing on the streets of the Italian capital in three days.
According to journalists’ accounts, it is not clear whether those responsible for the attacks were police officers or private security guards.
This one it’s not the first incident involving physical and verbal attacks on journalists that Bolsonaro dislikes.
In January, a report released by the National Federation of Brazilian Journalists (Fenaj) noted that Bolsonaro carried out 175 attacks on the press in 2020.
In May, in front of the Alvorada Palace, the president sent a journalist from Folha “shut up”. In August of the same year, he told a journalist that he had “willing to fill your mouth with beating, okay? You naughty”.
Physical and verbal aggressions by the president’s supporters are also common. often stimulates attacks.
In July of this year, the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) included Bolsonaro in a list of 37 leaders from around the world that the organization considers “predators of press freedom“.
The list also includes Syria’s heads of state, Bashar al-Assad, and from China, Xi Jinping.
