Bolsonaro whips up huge protest over coup charges

SAO PAULO: Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro rallied thousands of people on Sunday to a demonstration in Sao Paulo against charges levied by the Supreme Court that he plotted a coup.

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"What these guys really want isn't to lock me up, they want to kill me, because I'm a thorn in their side," Mr Bolsonaro told followers, who he has accused of persecuting him.

The far-right leader's rally brought out about 45,000 people to the financial centre's prestigious Paulista Avenue, according to a count by Ipec institute in Sao Paulo, many of them wearing the national football strip adopted by his supporters.

Street vendors were offering items in the colours of US President Donald Trump, bibs and flags of Israel and the United States, whose current government Mr Bolsonaro frequently praises.