A far-right politician dubbed “Brazil’s Donald Trump” was stabbed during a campaign rally on Thursday. The incident, which occurred when Jair Bolsonaro was being carried on the shoulders of supporters in Juiz de Fora, was captured on video.
Bolsonaro has taken to wearing a bulletproof vest on the campaign trail in recent weeks but the blade seems to have hit in the abdomen, below the vest. He was immediately taken to a local hospital and his son tweeted that his father’s wounds were “only superficial” and said he “is OK.”
Police told the Associated Press that they have a suspect in custody. The man, police said, was jumped by Bolsonaro’s supporters after the stabbing and badly beaten.
Bolsonaro has drawn a big following in Brazil for his tough talk on crime and lack of a filter. In an article last year calling him “Brazil’s Donald Trump,” The Economist described Bolsonaro as a “religious nationalist and former army captain, he is anti-gay, pro-gun, and an apologist for dictators who tortured and killed Brazilians between 1964 and 1985.”
He is also currently second in Brazil’s presidential polls, trailing only former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is in jail and has been barred from running for another term.
