City decides to celebrate January 8, backtracks after criticism

January 8, 2022 will be engraved in Brazilian history as the day that hordes of far-right radicals attempted to perpetrate a coup in Brasília. But in Porto Alegre, the capital of Brazil’s southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, there were attempts to transform the date into the local “Patriots’ Day.”

A proposal to use January 8 to commemorate “those who love their country and try to serve it in the best possible way” was submitted by a pro-Bolsonaro former city councilor in March. He was impeached later this year for abuse of economic power and misuse of electoral campaigning funds.

The bill was approved by two internal committees and sent to the mayor of Porto Alegre, Sebastião Melo, who could have vetoed it but didn’t. Mr. Melo remained silent on the proposal, allowing the head of the city council to ratify the proposal himself.

As soon as it was enacted, however, controversy was almost immediate. The Federal Prosecution Office asked the Supreme Court to declare the bill unconstitutional, while Justice Minister Flávio Dino called it “an affront to the democratic regime.”

Amid criticism, the Porto Alegre city council called an emergency session this week to revoke the law, amid agreement from all party groups. Even the bill’s author regretted his decision to choose January 8. “It could have been September 7 [Brazil’s Independence Day],” he said.

This Monday, Supreme Court Justice Kássio Nunes Marques gave the go-ahead for the first six prosecutions against those accused of committing crimes on January 8 to proceed. They could each face up to 30 years in prison.

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