They had called the president “genocidal” for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and displayed a cartoon depicting him next to a Nazi swastika. The national security law, which dates from 1983, near the end of the country's military dictatorship, makes it a crime to harm the heads of the three branches of government or expose them to danger. The vague measure has recently been used to detain or investigate Bolsonaro critics. O Globo said in an editorial Friday that the spirit of the national security law runs counter to Brazil’s constitution in the promotion of civil liberties. “The national security law should be revoked and replaced by a more modern tool that is capable of reconciliating the protection of the rule of law and the respect to individual rights,” the newspaper said.

Source: ABC News March 20, 2021 04:36 UTC