Teachers, trade unionists and Bolsonarists protest during Lula’s visit to a factory in Nova Lima

Groups of opposing political ideologies went to Nova Lima, in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, this Friday morning (26), with the same objective: to protest against the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The tone of the protest, however, is very different between the two groups. Wearing red shirts and singing songs in support of the Lula government, teachers and education technicians ask the PT government to negotiate a salary increase and demand career improvements.

See more: President Lula inaugurates insulin factory in Nova Lima

The group of around 35 protesters carried signs calling for “Respect for Education” and “Dignified Careers”, but another banner reads: “Striking is a right. We did the L and we will do it again as many times as necessary.”

“We, administrative technicians in education, have been on strike for more than 45 days and our demand is to restructure our careers and restore salaries,” said Cristina del Papa, general coordinator of the Federation of Unions of Technical-Administrative Workers in Educational Institutions Public Higher Education Institutions in Brazil.

The other group, allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), carried signs calling for the end of the PT government. The protesters also carried banners criticizing the president of the National Congress, senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD).

“We are from the Patriotas group, which represents the Brazilian people who are outraged by the actions of the current government. From abortion issues, drug release and support for dictatorships like Cuba and Venezuela, even sending money to these countries. The people are outraged by the deficit increasing in such a short period of time. Next door we have a demonstration by teachers from the federal network complaining about a salary adjustment, in other words, they are also in difficulties, but the government seems to not care, they want to travel around the world, with exorbitant expenses”, said Victor Daniel, from the Patriotas group .

According to the Military Police, the two protests are taking place peacefully and are separated by fences.