Protesters from the Youth for Climate network and other environmental activist groups gathered outside the Brazilian embassy in Buenos Aires on Friday to protest against the Brazilian government and President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the recent wildfires raging across the Amazon rainforest. Similar protests have taken place in Barcelona, London and Paris.

"Bolsonaro is responsible because he carries out an economic and political orientation based on the extraction of our natural resources and our land. This is basically to continue benefiting a small sector that is the most dangerous in the world that is the agricultural corporation, livestock. Corporations that pollute, loot and destroy the environment," Jesica Gentile a protester from the ecosocialist network said.

Some protesters blame Bolsonaro's environment policies and his support for logging and land clearing in the Amazon for the recent spate of wildfires. The Brazilian President has accused international non-governmental organisations for starting the fires themselves to damage the Brazilian government's image.

Brazil's National Institute for Space Research reported on Thursday that wildfires were spreading with a record speed across the Amazon basin, saying its data showed an 84 percent increase in fires compared to the same period last year.