Hundreds gathered in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday night, demanding the release of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The protesters carried banners reading “Lula Free” and shouted “Lula free! Lula president”.

Roberto Dantas, a lawyer and supporter of the former president, was among the almost one thousand protesters outside Rio de Janeiro's city council.

There were also demonstrations in Sao Paulo and Curitiba, where Lula is in prison.

Later on Sunday, the president of a Brazilian appeals court, whose judges had issued contradictory rulings on whether da Silva should be freed from jail, ordered that he remain in custody.

The duty judge on the Fourth Federal Regional Tribunal had ordered da Silva released Sunday morning.

That set off a series of dramatic back-and-forth during the day as one judge refused to follow that order and another contradicted it.

Late Sunday, presiding Judge Carlos Eduardo Thompson Flores Lenz stepped in and ruled that da Silva should remain in jail.

Da Silva began serving a sentence on a corruption conviction in April.

(Source: AP)