Star Metro - Backers of Brazil's Bolsonaro hold mass protest in Sao Paulo

"Brazil needs all of us. It's for freedom, for justice," the far-right Bolsonaro said on social media, urging his backers to march along Paulista Avenue, a key thoroughfare in South America's largest metropolis.

By mid-day Sunday he posted the phrases "Brazil above all! God above all!" along with a photograph showing him before a throng of people clad in green and yellow, the colors of the Brazilian flag.

The demonstration follows a hectic several weeks for the embattled ex-leader.

During a key phase in his Supreme Court trial earlier this month, he denied involvement in an alleged coup plot to wrest back power after leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly beat him at the ballot box in October 2022.

The prosecutor's office said the plot, which envisaged the assassination of Lula and other authorities, failed to materialize due to lack of support from the senior military command.

Brazil's police have also called for Bolsonaro to be separately charged with illegal espionage while president, along with his son.

Bolsonaro, 70, has rejected any wrongdoing, claiming the various cases against him are politically motivated judicial hounding aimed at preventing him from making a comeback in the 2026 elections.

The former army captain dreams of emulating Donald Trump's return to the White House, despite being banned from holding public office until 2030 over his attacks on Brazil's electronic voting system.

- 'Psychopath' -

A protestor who called himself Julinho Lionheart pointed to Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes -- an arch-foe of Bolsonaro whom the former president has described as a "dictator" -- as an unelected official with extreme power to impose unequal justice in Brazil.

"Alexandre de Moraes is a psychopath, he has destroyed the constitution, the protester told AFP.

Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas said he would attend the march and urged others to join.

"We need to talk about freedom... we are going to promote peace," he said.

De Freitas, a former Bolsonaro minister, is a top candidate to represent the conservatives in the 2026 presidential election.

- 'Nonsense' -

Some bystanders were unimpressed by the pro-Bolsonaro protest.

"This demonstration is nonsense," said Dionisio Teixeira, a record seller on Paulista Avenue, which on Sundays is transformed into a large pedestrian thoroughfare.

"This guy (Bolsonaro), who wanted to blow up Brasilia and kill his political opponent, should go to prison. I don't know how people can still come here to defend him."

Bolsonaro has called for several protests throughout his legal saga, but attendance appears to have declined in recent months.

According to estimates by the University of Sao Paulo, about 45,000 people participated in the march on Paulista Avenue in April, almost four times fewer than in February.

Some of Sunday's protesters held signs reading "Amnesty now," referring to the people convicted for the events of January 8, 2023, in Brasilia.

On that day thousands of Bolsonarists took over power centers in the Brazilian capital and demanded a military intervention to oust Lula from power one week after his inauguration.

S.Cloutier--SMC