CNN
 — 

Protestors in Brazil have persisted in blocking hundreds of autoroutes across the country, in a show of anger over the result of Sunday’s presidential run-off vote , which saw leftist former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva beat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by roughly 2.13 million votes.

The rightwing Bolsonaro, who is expected to speak on Tuesday afternoon, has not yet publicly acknowledged the result, and made no sign to calm supporters as they wreak havoc on the country’s highways, which are blocked at 267 points across the country according to Brazil’s Highway police.

The roadblocks have been ongoing since Sunday night, prompting widespread criticism within Brazil of the speed of response by the country’s Highway Police. Videos circulating on Brazil’s social media appeared to show highway police officers telling protestors that they would not disrupt or shut down their protests.

In a press conference on Tuesday morning, highway police executive director Marco Antonio de Barros defended his agency’s actions, saying clearing the roads was a “complex operation.”

“Groups of up to 500 protesters, with children on their laps, elderly are participating in it. So the PRF had to act with plenty of caution,” he said, using an acronym for the highways agency.

Highway police general inspector Wendel Matos added the institution does not support the protests or the shutdown of federal highways, and that any potential breaches of protocol were being investigated. “Sometimes two or three officers speak or act in a way that is incompatible with our orders. We are investigating if there has been any misconduct by those officers,” Matos said.

Their statements came after Supreme Court judges on Tuesday morning called for state military police to be deployed to disperse the blockades, which cut off supply chains and caused delays at airports on Monday.

President-elect Lula da Silva has not commented on the protests, though he expressed disappointment on Sunday evening at Bolsonaro’s failure to concede.

The leader of Lula da Silva’s Worker’s Party, Gleisi Hoffman, said on Tuesday that the party was confident such protests would not interfere with the eventual transfer of power. “We trust Brazilian institutions,” she said.

According to the election authority’s final tally, Lula da Silva received the most votes in Brazilian history – more than 60 million votes, breaking his own record from 2006 by almost two million votes.

The President-elect ultimately won with 50.9% of the vote, while Bolsonaro gained 49.1%.