As Bolsonaro took selfies with his supporters near the Planalto Palace, the president was questioned by Wilker Leao, an army corporal known for filming and posting on YouTube his confrontations with the right-wing leader’s supporters.
In the video, Leao can be heard asking Bolsonaro about his alliance with a group of right-wing and center parties called Centrao, which holds many seats in Congress.
Bolsonaro and his left-wing challenger, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, launched their rival presidential campaigns on Tuesday ahead of October’s elections.
Lula remains the first choice of 47% of Brazilian voters, according to a nationwide survey by the Datafolha Institute, published Thursday night by the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. But the gap is closing as Bolsonaro is up three percentage points since the last poll in late July.
According to the Globo video, Leao is pushed by an apparent security guard and refuses to leave. He begins to insult the President, calling him a “coward” and a “punk”.
“I come here every day, Bolsonaro. Let’s see if you have the courage to come out and talk to me,” says Leao.
The President is seen getting out of his car and saying he wants to speak to Leao. He grabs the YouTuber by the collar. “Come here, come here to talk to me,” he says, grabbing Leao’s cell phone.
After the scuffle, Bolsonaro and Leao can be seen speaking more calmly.
“You can talk to me as much as you want, you can talk as much as you want. No problem. Why this aggressiveness?” says Bolsonaro.
“Because when I talk to you sir, quietly, when I went there, I was forbidden to go back in to talk to you quietly, sir,” Leao replies.
Bolsonaro’s and Wilker Leao’s press office did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.