Sawt Falasteen - Rio Carnival parades kick off with divisive ode to Lula in election year

Samba school Academicos de Niteroi kicked off three days of dazzling parades with the homage to Lula, tracing his life as a boy growing up in poverty in the arid northeast, to a metalworker, union leader and then president.

The opposition has slammed the parade as veiled early campaigning ahead of October polls in which the 80-year-old Lula is seeking a fourth term.

Lula and his wife Rosangela "Janja" da Silva watched the parade from one of the many VIP boxes lining the avenue.

There were striking workers, dancers draped in giant lightbulbs to represent access to electricity and those depicting the poor getting benefits in what was also an ode to a raft of leftist concerns.

The crowd seated along the 700-meter avenue sang along to the theme song chosen by Academicos de Niteroi, which included the catchy refrain often used by the president's supporters: "Ole, ole, ole, ola; Lula, Lula!"

Luena Holliday, 51, an events organizer, said she was a fan of the veteran leftist, but she was torn about the choice of theme.

"I find it confusing. I support Lula... but we're in a very divided moment in the country, and I don't know how appropriate it is to associate Carnival with Lula," she told AFP.

- Bolsonaro as a clown -

The parades of the city's top 12 samba schools -- a ferocious competition featuring massive, animated floats, thundering drum sections and scantily-clad samba queens -- are the showpiece of Rio's Carnival.

Behind the pomp and glitter, each school chooses an annual theme, often linked to Afro-Brazilian heritage, social or political commentary, mythology or environmental issues.

The parade -- the first to honor a serving president -- made no mention of the election, but did not shy away from politics.

The theme song declares "no amnesty" -- the leftist chant against efforts to free former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro from a 27-year jail term he is serving for plotting a failed coup.

And one of the floats depicted a giant Bozo the Clown in prison stripes behind bars, with a massive ankle bracelet, a clear reference to Bolsonaro, who has often been nicknamed "Bozo" by his critics.

Bolsonaro was moved from house arrest to prison before the official start of his sentence after trying to remove his ankle monitoring bracelet with a soldering iron.

"Bozo in Jail? That's where he is supposed to be," a glitter-covered Nelia Macedo, 44, told AFP, praising a parade which "exceeded all expectations."

Marcia Alves, 59, a retired businesswoman, who admits she is not a supporter of Lula, said "you shouldn't mix Carnival with politics. It's for everyone to have fun, everyone has their own opinion."

- Warnings from electoral court -

Bolsonaro has anointed his eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his political heir and presidential candidate.

Shortly before the start of the parade, Flavio published an AI-generated video of a parade mocking Lula "the thief," showing him behind bars in reference to his 2018 jailing on a corruption charge that was later annulled.

Brazil's electoral court, the TSE, on Thursday unanimously rejected requests filed by two opposition parties to stop Academicos from parading Sunday.

The court said it could not block a parade before it happened, but warned it could still investigate after the show.

On Friday, the presidency warned officials attending carnival events not to make "statements that could be characterized as early electoral propaganda."

"We did not come here to campaign," said Leonel Querino, one of the directors of Academicos de Niteroi.

"We came here to celebrate the story of a worker in Brazil."

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST