Supporters in Brazil greet actor 'president'

(9 Mar 2019) SUPPORTERS IN BRAZIL GREET ACTOR 'PRESIDENT' Brazilian actor Jose de Abreu, who performed a satire proclaiming himself president of the country, arrived late Friday (8 MARCH 2019) night at Rio de Janeiro's international airport, where he was welcomed by hundreds of supporters. De Abreu arrived holding a fake street sign reading "Marielle Franco" in honour of a Rio de Janeiro councilwoman who was killed last year. He also read the constitution in front of his supporters, pretending to be taking power. In February, the 72-year old actor proclaimed himself on social media as Brazil's new president, joking and imitating Juan Guaido, the self-declared president of Venezuela. However what began as a satire and a joke became a movement of people supporting de Abreu, as a way to protest against far right president Jair Bolsonaro. "I will start travelling through Brazil to organize the resistance against this illegitimate government," he told journalists at the airport on Friday. For de Abreu, the idea is "to mobilize" the population. "Obviously I don't want to be president of Brazil, I want to use that power you are giving to me, to bring more people, to demystify that jobsworth government," he said. "Today we declare Jose de Abreu president of the country," said Taina Sela, a student who together with a group of friends welcomed de Abreu at the airport. "A president like Bolsonaro is the biggest shame in Brazil's history." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/102011028589719587178/+APArchive​ Tumblr: https://aparchives.tumblr.com/​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b4f4821a8a0279be226e418bdc48f8ba