On September 21, 2025, a wave of protests swept across Brazil, as tens of thousands of citizens filled the streets of major cities and small towns alike. Their message was clear: they opposed legislative maneuvers that could shield politicians—including the deeply polarizing former President Jair Bolsonaro—from prosecution and potentially grant him amnesty for his role in an attempted coup. The demonstrations marked the largest left-leaning mobilization in years, signaling a fierce public backlash against what many see as an attempt by lawmakers to put themselves above the law.
The catalyst for these nationwide rallies was a pair of controversial measures rapidly advanced by Brazil’s National Congress. The first, a proposed constitutional amendment, would make it significantly harder to arrest or prosecute members of Congress. Under this so-called “Shielding Bill,” any attempt to charge or detain a lawmaker would require approval by a secret ballot among their peers. The second, dubbed by critics as the “Bandit’s Bill,” could grant amnesty to Bolsonaro, his closest allies, and hundreds of supporters convicted for their roles in the violent storming of government buildings on January 8, 2023, following Bolsonaro’s defeat in the 2022 presidential election.
Brazil’s lower house of parliament passed both measures in rapid succession, drawing sharp condemnation from civil society groups and sparking immediate calls for mass demonstrations. According to Reuters and BBC, the protests spanned all 26 states and the Federal District, with major turnouts in Sao Paulo, Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro. The events drew support from trade unions, social movements, and left-wing political parties, with many participants chanting “no amnesty” and holding placards denouncing Congress as “shameless.”
In Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana neighborhood, a protest concert brought together some of Brazil’s most celebrated musicians. Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, and Gilberto Gil—artists who famously resisted censorship during the 1960s military dictatorship—reunited on stage to rally the crowd. Their performance was both a cultural and political statement, echoing the fears of many Brazilians who recall the country’s history of authoritarian rule.
“I was outraged by the news that many deputies voted in favor of a shielding law for themselves and their colleagues,” Veloso told Brazilian news outlet UOL, as reported by CNN. “This, along with a proposal for amnesty for the coup plotters. I think I identified with the majority of the Brazilian population, who do not want these things to go through.”
Other prominent voices joined the chorus of dissent. Superstar Anitta, in a video shared on Instagram, urged citizens to hold politicians accountable: “The people are the ones who shape the country’s politics. We have the right and the duty to hold politicians accountable. After all, we vote and they work for the good of the population.” Teacher Dulce Oliveira, protesting in Brasilia, echoed this sentiment, telling CNN, “This protest is important because the people need to show them what we want, because they are there to represent our needs, not their own.”
In Sao Paulo, University of Sao Paulo researchers estimated that some 40,000 demonstrators filled several blocks of Avenida Paulista, waving a 15-meter Brazilian flag emblazoned with the words “No Amnesty.” The turnout, according to Reuters, was the largest for a left-leaning protest since the October 2022 celebrations marking President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s election victory. Renato Fonseca, a 63-year-old advertising professional, wore a shirt reading “1964 Never Again”—a pointed reference to the military coup that ushered in two decades of dictatorship. “We came very close to a coup by Bolsonaro. I was young in 1964, but I never imagined we would be so close to another dictatorship,” he told Reuters.
The backdrop to these protests is Jair Bolsonaro’s dramatic fall from grace. On September 11, 2025, Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced the former president to 27 years and three months in prison for his role in orchestrating a failed coup. The court found that Bolsonaro and seven co-defendants had conspired to overturn the results of the 2022 election, culminating in the January 8, 2023, assault on Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace by thousands of his supporters. More than 1,500 people were arrested in the aftermath, with some receiving lengthy sentences.
Bolsonaro, who remains under house arrest while his legal team pursues appeals, has denied any wrongdoing. He was found guilty on five charges, including leading a “criminal organisation” to conspire against President Lula. Prosecutors revealed a detailed operational plan, ominously named “Green and Yellow Dagger,” which included, according to AFP, a plot to assassinate Lula himself. Despite being barred from running for office until 2030 by Brazil’s top electoral court, Bolsonaro has publicly declared his intention to seek the presidency in 2026.
The legislative push to protect Bolsonaro and his allies has deepened Brazil’s political rifts. Supporters of the former president, many aligned with the right-wing Liberal Party, have staged their own rallies in recent weeks, denouncing the legal proceedings as politically motivated. According to BBC, the rival marches highlight just how divided the country remains. A Datafolha poll published on September 16, 2025, found that 50% of Brazilians believe Bolsonaro should be jailed, while 43% oppose imprisonment and 7% declined to answer—a statistical snapshot of a nation at odds with itself.
President Lula, for his part, has sided firmly with the protesters. “I stand with the Brazilian people. Today’s demonstrations show that the population does not want impunity or amnesty,” he wrote on X, as reported by BBC. Lula has pledged to veto the amnesty bill should it pass the Senate, insisting that Congress must “focus on measures that benefit the Brazilian people.”
Yet the path forward remains uncertain. Both the Shielding Bill and the Bandit’s Bill face tough scrutiny in the Senate, and the specter of a presidential pardon for Bolsonaro looms over the political landscape. As actor Wagner Moura told a crowd in Salvador, Bahia, “this extraordinary moment in Brazilian democracy… serves as an example to the entire world.” Whether Brazil’s institutions will withstand the current test, or whether political maneuvering will undermine hard-won democratic gains, is a question that continues to animate the country’s streets—and its future.
For now, the protests have sent an unmistakable signal: a significant segment of Brazilian society remains determined to defend democracy, resist impunity, and hold even the most powerful to account.
