President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro attacks Youtuber

President of Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro attacks Youtuber

Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro had a brief physical altercation with a YouTuber who had previously taunted and insulted him. A video published by Brazilian news portal “G1” on Thursday shows how Bolsonaro’s election campaign first takes selfies with supporters in front of the presidential residence in the capital Brasília.

Then the Youtuber, identified by the “G1” as Wilker Leão, starts asking the President critical questions and filming himself doing so. A person who cannot be seen in the recordings throws Leão to the ground, to which the Youtuber shouts a series of cursing the president, as he calls “coward” and “tramp”.

Bolsonaro, who has already got into the car, gets out again, runs towards Leão with the words “come here, I want to talk to you”, tries to grab his cell phone, grabs his shirt and then his arm with both hands. Security quickly intervenes and takes Leão away. Minutes later, the opponents – separated from the bodyguards – have a brief conversation.

Bolsonaro and his opponent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva officially started their campaign for the presidential elections in October on Tuesday. Polls show former leftist president Lula clearly ahead of the incumbent.

In a new poll by the opinion polling institute Datafolha, Lula, 76, comes in at 47%, Bolsonaro, at 67, at 32%. The right-wing president managed to reduce the gap to his opponent by three points compared to the previous month. If neither candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the first ballot on October 2, there will be a runoff on October 30.