Brazil's Lula defies prison order as crowds rally for and against him

[Judi Lynn]

2. Saturday update: Crowds in S​​o Paulo block Lula from handing himself in

Crowds in S​​ão Paulo block Lula from handing himself in
Former president of Brazil, who leads polls ahead of elections, faces 12 years in prison
Reuters in Brazil
Sat 7 Apr 2018 17.43 EDT Last modified on Sat 7 Apr 2018 17.59 EDT

Supporters of former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva blocked his car from leaving a metal workers union where he has been holed up.

Lula, convicted of corruption, said earlier on Saturday he would turn himself in to police, a day after defying a judge’s order to start serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption that derails his effort to return to power this year.

In a fiery speech to a crowd of red-shirted supporters outside a steelworkers union headquarters, Brazil’s first working-class president insisted on his innocence and called his bribery conviction a political crime, but relented after a nearly 24-hour standoff with authorities.

“I will comply with the order and all of you will become Lula,” he had told the cheering crowd. “I’m not above the law. If I didn’t believe in the law, I wouldn’t have started a political party. I would have started a revolution.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/07/crowds-in-sao-paulo-block-lula-from-handing-himself-in