Brazil's X ban drives outraged Bolsonaro supporters to rally for 'free speech'

SAO PAULO (AP) — Thousands of supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro flooded Sao Paulo’s main boulevard for an Independence Day rally Saturday, buoyed by the government's blocking of tech billionaire Elon Musk's X platform, a ban they say is proof of their political persecution.

A few thousand demonstrators, clad in the yellow-and-green colors of Brazil's flag, poured onto Av. Paulista. References to the ban on X and images of Musk abounded.

“Thank you for defending our freedom,” read one banner praising the tech entrepreneur.

Saturday’s march was seen as a test of Bolsonaro’s capacity to mobilize turnout ahead of the October municipal elections, even though Brazil's electoral court has barred him from running for office until 2030. It's also something of a referendum on X, whose suspension has raised eyebrows even among some of Bolsonaro's opponents all the while stoking the flames of Brazil's deep-seated political polarization.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X’s nationwide ban on Aug. 30 after months of feuding with Musk over the limits of free speech. The powerful judge has spearheaded efforts to ban far-right users from spreading misinformation on social media, and he ramped up his clampdown after die-hard Bolsonaro supporters ransacked Congress and the presidential palace on Jan. 8, 2023, in an attempt to overturn Bolsonaro's defeat in the presidential election.

On Saturday, Bolsonaro called Moraes a “dictator” and called on Brazil's Senate to impeach the judge. He also repeated the false claim that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had colluded with the judiciary to steal the 2022 election.

“They want to censor the truth, so the people don't know the truth,” Bolsonaro, with a raspy voice from a virus that sent him to the hospital earlier in the day, told the crowd.

Such comments are red meat to Bolsonaro’s supporters, who have lauded Musk's defiance of Brazil's judiciary.

“Elon Musk has been a warrior for freedom of speech,” staunch Bolsonaro ally and lawmaker Bia Kicis said in an interview. “The right is being oppressed, massacred, because the left doesn’t want the right to exist.”

“Our liberties are in danger, we need to make our voices heard. De Moraes is a tyrant, he should be impeached, and people on the streets is the only thing that will convince politicians to do it,” added retiree Amaro Santos as he walked down the thoroughfare Saturday,

Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has also urged Brazilians to turn out in droves for the rally, resharing someone else's post claiming that X’s ban had awakened people “to the fact that freedom isn’t free and needs to be fought for.” He's also created an X account, named for the controversial jurist, to publish sealed court orders directing X to shut down accounts deemed unlawful.

But De Moraes' decision to ban X was far from arbitrary, having been upheld by fellow Supreme Court justices. And while expression, online and elsewhere, faces more prohibitions under Brazil's laws than in the U.S., Musk has emerged as both a cause célèbre and a mouthpiece for unrestricted free speech.

Since 2019, X has shut down 226 accounts of far-right activities accused of undermining Brazil's democracy, including those of lawmakers affiliated with Bolsonaro’s party, according to court records.

But when it refused to take action on some accounts, de Moraes warned last month that its legal representative could be arrested, prompting X to disband its local office. The U.S.-based company refused to name a new representative — as required in order to receive court notices — and de Moraes ordered its nationwide suspension until it did so.

A Supreme Court panel unanimously upheld de Moraes’ decision to block X days later, undermining Musk's efforts to cast him as an authoritarian bent on censoring political speech.

The more controversial component of his ruling was the levy of a whopping $9,000 daily fine for regular Brazilians using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X.

“Some of these measures that have been adopted by the Supreme Court appear to be quite onerous and abusive,” said Andrei Roman, CEO of Brazil-based pollster Atlas Intel.

In the lead-up to Saturday's protest, some right-wing politicians defied de Moraes’ ban and brazenly used a VPN to publish posts on X, calling for people to partake in the protests.

The march in Sao Paulo is organized in parallel to official events to celebrate Brazil’s anniversary of independence from Portugal. Commemorations have been fraught with tension in recent years, as Bolsonaro used them while in office to rally supporters and show political strength.

Three years ago, he threatened to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis when he declared he would no longer abide de Moraes' rulings. He has since toned down the attacks — a reflection of his own delicate legal situation.

Bolsonaro has been indicted twice since his term ended in 2022, most recently for alleged money laundering in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia. De Moraes is overseeing an investigation into the Jan. 8 riot, including whether Bolsonaro had a role in inciting it.

Associated Press writers Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report. Hughes reported from Rio de Janeiro.

Demonstrators take part in a demonstration calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who recently imposed a nationwide block on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

Demonstrators take part in a protest calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who recently imposed a nationwide block on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

Demonstrators take part in a protest calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who recently imposed a nationwide block on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

Demonstrators take part in a protest calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who recently imposed a nationwide block on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

A demonstrator, his mouth covered with tape marked with the Brazilian Supreme Court acronym, takes part in a protest calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who recently imposed a nationwide block on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

A protester, dressed to depict Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes wearing a diaper, takes part in a protest calling for the impeachment of de Moraes, who recently imposed a nationwide block on Elon Musk's social media platform X, in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

Demonstrators take part in a protest calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who recently imposed a nationwide block on Elon Musk's social media platform X, in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

MAUMERE, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki unleashed towering columns of ash into the air on Thursday, in an even larger eruption than the one that killed nine people and injured dozens of others three days ago.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the latest eruption.

The 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) volcano on the remote island of Flores shot billowing columns of ash 11 times on Thursday, with the latest and largest rising 8,000 meters (26,240 feet), said Hadi Wijaya, the head of Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.

The volcano had shown less activity since Monday’s deadly eruption killed nine people and injured 64 others.

Monday's eruption affected more than 10,000 people in 10 villages. About 4,400 villagers moved into makeshift emergency shelters after the eruption, which destroyed seven schools, nearly two dozen houses and a convent on the majority-Catholic island.

Volcanic materials, including smoldering rocks, lava and hot, thumb-size gravel and ash were thrown up to 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from its crater on Monday.

While visiting the devastated areas, officials found craters where rocks fell during eruptions, up to 13 meters (43 feet) wide and 5 meters (16 feet) deep, in several places including a destroyed school.

“It shows a difference in characteristics from the previous eruption in January,” said Wijaya, head of the volcanology center. He added that the earlier eruption mostly unleashed volcanic materials around the peak, followed by lava flows.

“We are still analyzing the change of Lewotobi's eruption character, which will be used by the government to determine a safe relocation site for residents,” Wijaya said.

He said his agency has asked the local government of East Nusa Tenggara province to close the only road connecting Maumere, the island’s largest city, to the neighboring district of Larantuka, as it passes through the volcano’s danger zone.

The country’s volcano monitoring agency increased Lewotobi Laki Laki's alert status to the highest level and more than doubled the exclusion zone to a 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) radius on Monday, prohibiting any activity in that area.

Authorities warned the thousands of people who fled not to return home, as the government planned to move about 16,000 residents out of the danger zone, said National Disaster Management Agency head Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

“Permanent relocation is considered as a long-term mitigation measure to anticipate eruption in the future,” Suharyanto told reporters after visiting the devastated areas Thursday.

He said residents of the hardest-hit villages would be relocated within the next six months, and each family waiting for a new house will be compensated 500,000 rupiah ($32) per month.

About 6,500 people were evacuated in January after Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki began erupting, spewing thick clouds and forcing the government to close the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda Airport. No casualties or major damage were reported, but the airport has remained closed since then due to seismic activity.

Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of a pair of stratovolcanoes in the East Flores district of East Nusa Tenggara province, known locally as the husband-and-wife mountains. “Laki laki” means man, while its mate is Lewotobi Perempuan, or woman.

The vulcanology center also said another volcano, Mount Marapi in West Sumatra province — one of the country’s most active volcanoes — erupted again on Thursday, spewing thick columns of ash at least three times and blanketing nearby villages with debris. No casualties were reported.

Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of 280 million people. The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.

Karmini reported from Jakarta. Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan and Andi Jatmiko contributed to this report.

Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spews volcanic materials during an eruption, in East Flores, Indonesia, Thursday, Nov, 7, 2024. (AP Photo)

Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spews volcanic materials during an eruption, in East Flores, Indonesia, Thursday, Nov, 7, 2024. (AP Photo)