Brazil's former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has attacked right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro for impoverishing working Brazilians and vowed to unite the left to win the 2022 elections in a speech .
Lula's wide-ranging, 45-minute speech to cheering supporters focused broadly on defeating Mr Bolsonaro and improving the economic conditions of the working class.
But he diverged frequently to talk about everything from his fiance to solidarity with leftist governments in Bolivia and Venezuela.
Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010, also took aim at a long list of political enemies, including Mr Bolsonaro, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and Justice Minister Sergio Moro, a former judge who initially ruled to convict Lula.
Supporters of Brazilian former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (C) carry him on their shoulders in Sao Bernardo do Campo Source: AP
"I want to tell them, I'm back," the 74-year-old told hundreds of supporters dressed in red, the colour of his Workers Party, outside the metalworkers union where he got his political start.
He said Mr Guedes sought to remake Brazil economically in the image of Chile, long seen as a model of financially conservative governance, but that those policies are the reason for the widespread street protests paralysing its Latin American neighbour.
A judge ordered that Lula be freed on Friday, a day after Brazil's Supreme Court issued a broader ruling ending the mandatory imprisonment of convicted criminals after they lose their first appeal.
Lula had been imprisoned on a corruption conviction carrying a nearly nine-year sentence.
Mr Bolsonaro told reporters in Brasilia, "Let's not give space to compromise with a convict."
Earlier on Twitter, the president called for supporters to rally around his government's agenda, which has included a severe tightening of public spending, saying that they must not allow Brazil's next phase of recovery to be derailed.
"Do not give ammunition to the scoundrel, who is momentarily free but full of guilt," Mr Bolsonaro said.
Supporters of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio during a rally at the Metal Workers Union headquarters, in Sao Bernardo do Campo Source: AP
While Mr Bolsonaro did not mention Lula by name, his left-wing rival took direct aim at the president.
"If we work hard, in 2022 the so-called left that Bolsonaro is so afraid of will defeat the ultra-right," he said.
Lula, who left the presidency with sky-high approval ratings, is ineligible to stand for office until 2025 under Brazil's "Clean Record" law because of a conviction for taking bribes. But his release is expected to energise the left ahead of next year's municipal elections.
He was imprisoned in 2018 after being found guilty of receiving bribes from construction companies in return for public contracts.
