Brazil Carnival: 'Bolsonaro' dancer turned into crocodile

Brazil's president found himself ridiculed for his Covid policies as the world-famous Carnival took place for the first time since the pandemic.

During the São Paulo parade, a performer wearing a presidential sash transformed into a crocodile after "receiving a vaccine" on stage.

The team behind the show said the jab at the president was a "little joke".

The Rosas de Ouro school, behind the crocodile joke, performed during the second day of São Paulo's section made up of the top samba schools in the state.

Paulo Menezes, the Rosas de Ouro team member responsible for ideas for the giant floats, told Globo that "crocodile Bolsonaro" was a joke and a way of representing the difficulties faced by Brazilians during the pandemic.

Mr Menezes said that this year's carnival was a "battle cry", and that the school's parade aimed to "get rid of all of the bad things we've experienced these last few years and pay homage to those who are no longer with us".

The idea for the float initially scared the school's leadership, Mr Menezes claimed, because it had refrained from political commentary in recent years.

"If you watch carnival in the 1980s and 1990s, there was always political satire in performances," he said. But with Brazil's presidential election less than six months away, many samba schools chose to include political themes such as racism and inequality in their performances.

Following the conclusion of the main parades on Sunday morning, judges will decide on the top schools in São Paulo and Rio De Janeiro on Tuesday and the celebrations will conclude with a final presentation by the chosen schools on Friday.