Thousands of Brazilians on Sunday protested in all 26 states and the federal district against a possible pardon for former president Jair Bolsonaro and his allies, who were convicted of attempting a coup.

The protests were organized by artists and left-wing groups and some of Brazil’s most prominent performers were on hand to rally the demonstrators.

Music legends Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil — who defied censorship during the military dictatorship of the 1960s — reunited in Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana neighborhood to show their opposition to a possible amnesty for the former president.

Calls for demonstrations grew after the lower house on Tuesday passed a constitutional amendment that would make it harder to arrest or launch criminal proceedings against lawmakers.

The measure now heads to the Senate.

Then on Wednesday, the lower house voted to fast-track a bill backed by right-wing opposition lawmakers that could grant amnesty to Bolsonaro, his closest allies and hundreds of supporters convicted of their roles in the January 2023 uprising.

In São Paulo, 42,400 people joined the protest, while 41,800 turned out in Rio de Janeiro, according to estimates by the University of São Paulo’s Monitor of Political Debate and the non-profit More in Common.

Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison on September 11 for attempting to stay in power after losing a 2022 reelection bid.

He was the first former president convicted of trying to overturn an election in Latin America’s largest economy.

Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing and remains under house arrest in Brasilia until his sentence is finalized.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the trial a witch hunt, and in July announced a 50% tariff on Brazilian imported goods and explicitly linked the import tax to Bolsonaro’s fate.

The U.S. Treasury Department placed sanctions on Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the case≥

Polls show the country remains deeply divided over Bolsonaro.

According to a Datafolha poll released Sept. 16, 50% of respondents said Bolsonaro should be jailed, while 43% disagreed and 7% declined to answer.

The survey interviewed 2,005 people nationwide and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

AP video by Mario Lobao, Diarlei Rodrigues, Andre Penner, Eduardo François