Brazil’s president has labelled young environmental activist Greta Thunberg a “brat” after she expressed concern about indigenous Brazilians being killed in the Amazon.
Jair Bolsonaro questioned the coverage media organisations have given to the 16-year-old, who had tweeted a link to a story about the murder of two indigenous people in Brazil’s Maranhao state.
“Greta said that the Indians died because they were defending the Amazon,” Mr Bolsonaro said. “It’s impressive that the press is giving space to a brat like that.”
The Brazilian president used the Portuguese word “pirralha”, and shortly after his comments Greta changed the bio on her Twitter profile to say “Pirralha”.
The Swedish teenager's comments about the deaths of the indigenous people came as the UN was hosting its international climate change conference, where Brazil’s environmental policies have been the subject of criticism.
Deforestation of its Amazon rose nearly 30 per cent in the 12 months to July.
“Indigenous people are being literally murdered for trying to protect the forest from illegal deforestation,” she tweeted.
“Over and over again. It is shameful that the world remains silent about this.”
The teenager is celebrated for inspiring a global youth movement to tackle climate change after she conducted a solo protest outside the Swedish parliament.
She recently attended the UN climate conference in Europe which she travelled to from the US where she had been taking part in climate negotiations.
Refusing to fly she made a call for help to get across the Atlantic, which was answered by British professional yachtswoman Nikki Henderson and her crew of five.
