Pro-Bolsonaro Rally Gathered 42.2 Thousand People on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo

The manifestation on September 7th on Paulista Avenue, in São Paulo, brought together 42.2 thousand people showing support to Jair Bolsonaro, accused of attempting a coup d’état. The estimate comes from the ‘Monitor do debate político’ project of the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (Cebrap) – coordinated by Pablo Ortellado and Marcio Moretto from the University of São Paulo (USP) – in partnership with More in Common. The margin of error of the survey, based on aerial images and artificial intelligence, is 5.1 thousand people plus or minus. At peak time, between 37.1k and 47.3k participants were present.
The count was based on aerial photos analyzed with AI. 15 photos were taken at four different times, with images divided into eight sections covering the entire crowd. The Point to Point Network (P2PNet) method was used for calculation, in which a drone takes aerial photos and software analyzes the images to identify and automatically mark people’s heads, with a 72.9% accuracy and 69.5% precision in identifying each individual. On Independence Day amidst the former president’s trial at the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the presence of demonstrators calling for his freedom was 12% higher compared to the last pro-Bolsonaro protest held in the city last month. The Sunday rally far exceeded the left-wing demonstration against the amnesty proposal for the former president, which gathered 8.8 thousand people at Praça da República in downtown São Paulo. Compared to other pro-Bolsonaro rallies, today’s protest was the fourth largest of the eight organized on Paulista Avenue by his supporters since he began questioning the electoral system’s reliability and intensifying attacks on the STF during the 2022 election campaign.
Floating audience Bolsonaro rallies on Paulista Avenue Source: ‘Monitor do Debate Político’. The largest gathering there so far was in February 2024, with around 185k attendees, just a few weeks after Bolsonaro became the target of a Federal Police investigation for his involvement in the coup attempt. The smallest pro-Bolsonaro manifestation was in June this year, with around 12.4k people, as the former president was already under interrogation by the court regarding the coup attempt. The Sunday event on Paulista Avenue was marked by speeches critical of the STF, especially Minister Alexandre de Moraes, and demands directed at the National Congress to approve the amnesty bill. In his strongest criticism of the court, Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) spoke of Moraes’ ‘tyranny’ and requested that the former president, ineligible for office, be allowed to run in 2026. Former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro (PL) delivered a religious-toned speech, shedding tears as she claimed her rights were being violated and her husband was ‘gagged at home.’ Pastor Silas Malafaia, responsible for calling the rally, criticized the movements to choose a candidate other than Bolsonaro for the 2026 presidential election.