BRASILIA — Brazilian safety forces locked down the world round Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court Monday, a day after supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the seat of energy in riots that triggered a global outcry.
In beautiful scenes harking back to the January 6, 2021 invasion of the US Capitol constructing by supporters of then-president Donald Trump, backers of Bolsonaro broke by means of police cordons and overran the seats of energy in Brasilia, smashing home windows and doorways and ransacking workplaces.
Initially overwhelmed safety forces used tear fuel, stun grenades and water cannon to combat again the rioters till they lastly subdued them.
Newly inaugurated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the veteran leftist who narrowly gained Brazil’s bitter, divisive October elections, condemned the invasions as a “fascist” assault.
The far-right Bolsonaro in the meantime condemned “pillaging and invasions of public buildings” in a tweet. But the politician dubbed the “Tropical Trump” rejected Lula’s declare he incited the assaults, and defended the proper to “peaceful protests.”
Lula, who was within the southeastern metropolis of Araraquara visiting a area hit by extreme floods, signed a decree declaring a federal intervention in Brasilia, giving his authorities particular powers over the native police drive to revive regulation and order within the capital.
“These fascist fanatics have done something never before seen in this country’s history,” mentioned Lula, 77, who took workplace per week in the past.
“We will find out who these vandals are, and they will be brought down with the full force of the law.”
Lula returned to Brasilia and considered the injury on the presidential palace and the Supreme Court. He mentioned he would work out of the palace on Monday regardless of all of the destruction.
Police have made 170 arrests, media stories mentioned.
TV pictures confirmed police ushering Bolsonaro supporters in single file down the ramp from the Planalto presidential palace—the identical ramp Lula climbed per week earlier at his inauguration.
The Senate safety service mentioned it had arrested 30 folks within the chamber.
Brasilia safety chief sacked
The chaos got here after a sea of protesters wearing military-style camouflage and the inexperienced and yellow of the flag flooded into Brasilia’s Three Powers Square, invading the ground of Congress, trashing the Supreme Court constructing and climbing the ramp to the Planalto.
Social media footage confirmed rioters breaking doorways and home windows to enter the Congress constructing, then streaming inside en masse, trashing lawmakers’ workplaces and utilizing the sloped speaker’s dais on the Senate ground as a slide as they shouted insults directed on the absent lawmakers.
Protesters broken artworks, historic objects, furnishings and decorations as they ran riot by means of the buildings, in line with Brazilian media stories.
One video confirmed a crowd outdoors pulling a policeman from his horse and beating him to the bottom.
Police, who had established a safety cordon across the sq., fired tear fuel in a bid to disperse the rioters—initially to no avail.
A journalists’ union mentioned at the least 5 reporters had been attacked, together with an AFP photographer who was crushed by protesters and had his tools stolen.
Hardline Bolsonaro supporters have been protesting outdoors military bases calling for a army intervention to cease Lula from taking energy since his election win.
Lula’s authorities vowed to seek out and arrest those that deliberate and financed the assaults.
Brasilia Governor Ibaneis Rocha fired the capital’s public safety chief, Anderson Torres, who beforehand served as Bolsonaro’s justice minister.
The legal professional normal’s workplace mentioned it had requested the Supreme Court to challenge arrest warrants for Torres “and all other public officials responsible for acts and omissions” resulting in the unrest.
It additionally requested the excessive courtroom to authorize the usage of “all public security forces” to take again federal buildings and disperse anti-government protests nationwide.
‘Fraudulent election’
Protester Sarah Lima advised AFP they had been demanding a evaluation of the “fraudulent election.”
Lula narrowly gained the runoff by a rating of fifty.9 p.c to 49.1 p.c. Bolsonaro, who left for the US state of Florida on the second-to-last day of his time period, has alleged he’s the sufferer of a conspiracy towards him by Brazil’s courts and electoral authorities.
“I’m here for history, for my daughters,” mentioned Lima, 27, carrying the yellow jersey of the Brazilian nationwide soccer staff—an emblem Bolsonaro backers have claimed as their very own—and protesting together with her younger twin daughters.
Fellow protester Rogerio Souza Marcos mentioned the elections had been stricken by “multiple signs of fraud and corruption.”
Newly put in Justice and Public Security Minister Flavio Dino referred to as the invasion “an absurd attempt to impose (the protesters’) will by force.”
“It will not prevail,” he wrote on Twitter.
There was swift worldwide condemnation of the protesters.
The United Nations mentioned it “vehemently condemns” the assaults.
US President Joe Biden slammed the scenes as “outrageous,” European Council President Charles Michel tweeted his “absolute condemnation,” and French President Emmanuel Macron referred to as for respect for Brazil’s establishments and despatched Lula “France’s unwavering support.”
Even Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the riots.
A raft of Latin American leaders joined in, with Chilean President Gabriel Boric denouncing a “cowardly and vile attack on democracy” and Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador calling it a “reprehensible coup attempt.” — Agence France-Presse
