Brazil's Bolsonaro blasts election ban as 'denial of democracy'
Several thousand supporters of the far-right firebrand lined Rio's famous Copacabana beach to show support for Brazil's 2019-2022 leader, who stands accused of attempting to overthrow his left-wing successor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The 69-year-old has been attempting to position himself as a leading contender in elections next year, despite being barred from holding elected office until 2030.
"I want to tell all those who don't like me in Brasilia (Brazil's capital): elections without Bolsonaro is a denial of democracy in Brazil," he said.
Bolsonaro hopes to emulate US President Donald Trump by making a stunning political comeback despite facing multiple legal charges.
"They are trying to throw him in prison, in a cowardly fashion, so he can't be elected, but they won't succeed," Patricia Santos, a 41-year-old attending the rally, told AFP.
Jose de Souza Vitorino, 64, a former military officer like Bolsonaro, said he came to the rally because he wanted "to leave a better Brazil for my children."
Bolsonaro had called for a "million" supporters to gather on Sunday, but an AFP photographer said the rally was smaller than a similar event at the same location a year ago.
The protest was officially called to demand amnesty for hundreds convicted over the January 8, 2023 riots in Brasilia, when Bolsonaro backers stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court.
The rioters demanded that the military oust Lula, who had defeated Bolsonaro, his archrival, in October 2022 elections and had been sworn in just a week earlier.
The rampage evoked the January 2021 storming of the Capitol building in Washington by Trump supporters, most of whom the US president has since pardoned.
Bolsonaro was in the United States during the Brasilia riots but prosecutors believe they were part of a coup plot approved by the former army captain.
On March 25, Brazil's Supreme Court will consider whether there is sufficient evidence to try him.
If convicted, he risks a prison term of more than 40 years.
Like Trump, Bolsonaro claims to be the victim of politically motivated judicial hounding. Both men also survived attempts on their life on the campaign trail.
On the Copacabana stage, a poster showed the now iconic image of a defiant Trump with his fist raised after a bullet pierced his ear during a rally last year in Philadelphia.
'Send a message'
Dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics," Bolsonaro claims to be the victim of political persecution aimed at excluding him from seeking a second term.
He has been declared ineligible to hold public office until 2030 for having made unsubstantiated claims of fraud in Brazil's electronic voting system, but he hopes to have the ban overturned by Congress.
Independent political analyst Andre Rosa told AFP the real purpose of Sunday's rally was to allow Bolsonaro to "send a message to his competitors on the right... and reaffirm his intention to be a candidate in 2026."
"For now, I am a candidate," Bolsonaro told journalists in Brasilia this week.
There are concerns in Lula's camp, meantime, including worry over the 79-year-old president's health and the persistent inflation that has dragged down his popularity.