Protesters marched in cities to tell far-right president they respect his democratic election but he must protect democratic freedoms

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Thousands of Brazilian protesters have marched through the heart of São Paulo to tell their newly elected far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, they recognize his democratic election but will resist any attempt to erode their freedoms or rights.

“No one is giving up! No one is giving up! No one is giving up!” the protesters chanted as they began an emotional 3km procession through São Paulo past graffiti-scrawled walls that bore the rallying cry of their movement: “Not him!”

Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) Very powerful moment at last night’s march in São Paulo as @GuilhermeBoulos & thousands of protesters kicked off their anti-Bolsonaro resistance movement with chants of: “No one is giving up!” “Ninguém vai se render!” #ninguemSoltaAmaodeninguem pic.twitter.com/J3UlHVhpNm

Similar protests were held in cities across Brazil including Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Recife.

In Brazil’s economic capital, anti-Bolsonaro protesters returned to the same spot outside São Paulo’s art museum where devotees of Brazil’s far-right president-elect celebrated his stunning triumph on Sunday night.

Many carried handmade banners and signs with slogans denouncing Bolsonaro, a former paratrooper notorious for his hostility to human rights, minorities and the environment.

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“If you threaten my existence, then I will be resistance,” read one placard.

Others carried less subtle rebukes: “Fascist pig,” said one. A second read: “Neo-Nazis No!”

A mood of despondency hung in the air as shellshocked dissenters assembled on Monday evening for what they called the first public act of “resistance” to their extremist president who will take office on 1 January.

One protester’s T-shirt was emblazoned with the words: “Everything sucks.”

“It’s sad for us – above all as black people – knowing that you are now considered a target,” said Brenda Richele, 23, who said she believed Bolsonaro had legitimized violence against groups to which he was hostile.

Tears coursed down Richele’s cheeks as she described her distress at having a president infamous for his racist, sexist and homophobic remarks.

“What we are most feeling is fear: fear of what might happen, fear of what all this might generate.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nina Gabrielle, 19, a transgender protester carrying a bright pink sign urging fellow objectors to ‘fight like a trans girl’. Photograph: Tom Phillips/The Guardian

But that dejection turned to grit as the protest swelled and its leaders urged those present not to lose hope.

“We are here to fight and to say that we will resist. We won’t accept being killed or being treated like animals. We won’t accept being treated like a minority because we aren’t one,” said Richele.

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“I feel smothered,” said Nina Gabrielle, 19, a trans woman carrying a bright pink sign urging fellow objectors to “fight like a trans girl”.

“He preaches hatred … [and] his supporters are attacking the LGBT community. So we are here to fight. Resisting to exist!”

Addressing protesters from the top of a carnival float, feminist campaigner Carina Vitral said she had a simple message for Bolsonaro: “We will not be banished. We will not leave the country. We will not be arrested. We will continue to fight – on every single day of your disastrous government.”

Guilherme Boulos, a rising leftist leader, said: “We do recognise the result of the elections … Bolsonaro has now been elected president of Brazil. But not Brazil’s emperor – not the owner of Brazil. He doesn’t own us.”

“A president has to respect democratic freedoms. A president has to respect the freedom of protest, the freedom of expression. He has to respect opposition and not say that they go either to jail or into exile.”

As protesters filed down São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista flanked by military police, some in riot gear, Bolsonaro made his first public outing since being elected on Sunday with nearly 58m votes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brenda Richele: ‘It’s sad for us – above all as black people – knowing that you are now considered a target.’ Photograph: Tom Phillips/The Guardian

Bolsonaro chose an evangelical church in northern Rio de Janeiro where he appeared on stage alongside Silas Malafaia, a deeply conservative and firebrand televangelist who once called himself “the public enemy number one” of Brazil’s gay movement.

“You can expect me to be someone who is committed to Christian family values,” Bolsonaro told the congregation.

Emerson Bellini, a 35-year-old civil servant who was at the protest in São Paulo, said he feared Brazil could go into reverse under Bolsonaro after years of social advances. “We feel great anger … there were 80 million people who didn’t vote for him. People are worried about losing their political rights and the attack on our social rights that is coming.”

But Bellini also vowed to fight back and wore a T-shirt stamped with the words: “Dictatorship never again!”

“We don’t have the right to be downcast at such an important moment in our country’s history,” he said.