Brazil's Bolsonaro urges angry supporters to lift road blockades

Brazil's outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro has asked participants in what he said were "legitimate" protests to "unblock the roads" and demonstrate elsewhere as they push for military intervention to keep him in power.

"I want to make an appeal to them: Unblock the roads," Bolsonaro said late on Wednesday. The blockages do "not seem to me to be part of legitimate demonstrations."

"Other demonstrations that are taking place throughout Brazil in squares... are part of the democratic game. They are welcome," he added.

After days of silence, Bolsonaro on Tuesday gave a short speech in which he neither accepted defeat nor congratulated leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his weekend win, although his chief of staff took the podium afterward to say the president had authorised the transition to a new government.

The demonstrators, unwilling to accept the results of Bolsonaro's Sunday election defeat, have now clogged autoroutes and caused nationwide disruptions for three straight days.

"Federal intervention now!" chanted some of the thousands who gathered in front of the Southeastern Military Command in the country's biggest city, Sao Paulo.

The day of mobilisation was marred by violence, however.

At a roadblock near the town of Mirassol in Sao Paulo state, a motorist drove into a crowd of demonstrators, injuring at least seven people, according to CNN.

Some supporters of Bolsonaro, himself a retired army captain, made threatening gestures to journalists in Sao Paulo, where crowds of demonstrators swelled later in the day.

Nationwide disruption 

The number of road blockades throughout the country decreased from 271 on Tuesday to 146 on Wednesday, according to police.

In Sao Paulo, military police used tear gas to disperse a blockade on the main highway connecting the state with the central-west region of the country, after the Supreme Federal Court ordered the use of "all necessary measures" to open the roads.

Trucks sounded their horns, while demonstrators wearing yellow football jerseys waved flags in front of passing vehicles, in scenes broadcast on local television.

The blockades have caused disruptions nationwide.

The main airport in Sao Paulo cancelled 48 flights due to the protests, according to its press office.

Bolsonaro's vice president, Hamilton Mourao, told the O Globo daily that "it's no use crying, we've lost the game."

The National Confederation of Industry warned on Tuesday of an imminent risk of fuel shortages if blocked roads were not quickly cleared.

Infrastructure Minister Marcelo Sampaio had asked late Tuesday for protesters to unblock the highways to allow medicine, supplies and fuel to circulate.

Many Brazilian supermarkets reportedly were already experiencing some supply shortages.

'Fill the streets'

Demonstrations calling for military intervention in front of military buildings took place in 11 of the country's 27 states, according to news site UOL.

Bolsonaro on Tuesday said protesters should not "use the methods of the left... that prevent freedom of movement," but added that the roadblocks were "the fruit of indignation and a feeling of injustice at how the electoral process took place."

"Peaceful protests will always be welcome," he said.

That was interpreted by some supporters as a call to maintain the demonstrations.

"The dream is still alive," said a message by one supporter on Tuesday on Telegram. "Fill the streets tomorrow."