Thousands of radical backers of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro breached and vandalized Brazil’s presidential office building, congress and supreme court Sunday in scenes that hauntingly evoked the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump.
The attack — the most significant threat to democracy in Latin America’s largest nation since the 1964 military coup — came a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to succeed Bolsonaro. It suggested a spreading plague of far-right disrupters in Western democracies, as hard-liners radicalized by incendiary political rhetoric refuse to accept election losses, cling to unfounded claims of fraud and undermine the rule of law.
Bolsonaristas occupied the congress building, many of them sitting or lying on the ground. A flag placed in front of the building read “intervention” — a reference to calls for the military to depose Lula, who defeated Bolsonaro in October.
Most wrapped themselves in the yellow and green of the Brazilian flag. Some shouted at police officers “this is just the beginning” and “May God bless you and prevent you from acting against us patriots.”
Images broadcast by Globo TV showed smashed glass and protesters roaming the halls of the Planalto Palace, the office of the president. In an echo of the behavior of the U.S. insurrectionists, videos shared on social media showed bolsonaristas taking trophies.
Protesters set off fireworks from the roof of congress. Others waved the yellow and green jersey of the national soccer team — now a symbol of the far right — in the main chamber of the supreme court. Bolsonaristas see the powerful court as an adversary.
Thousands more milled about a massive square similar to Washington’s National Mall, waving Brazilian flags and chanting “God, Fatherland, Family and Liberty.”
Videos shared on social media showed scores marching to the Praça dos Três Poderes — the Plaza of the Three Powers — according to videos on social media. One video, purportedly from the assault Sunday, appeared to show a group of protesters attacking a mounted police officer. A woman yells out, “stop, stop!” A man says “guys, let the police officer go.”
Later Sunday, the boom and clouds of acrid tear gas could be seen in the plaza as security forces tried to reassert order. After nearly five hours of rioting, officials said, the attackers were cleared from the government buildings. Lula was in the presidential office Sunday evening to assess the damage himself.
A visibly angered Lula, addressing the nation Sunday evening, condemned the invaders as “fascists.”
“There is no precedent for this,” he said. “All the people [who stormed public buildings] will be found and punished.”
Bolsonaro, who has been in Orlando over the past week, condemned the invasions Sunday evening, hours after they had begun.
“Public protests, by law, are part of democracy,” he tweeted. “However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those that were carried out by the left in 2013 and 2017, were outside of the law.”
A reporter working for The Washington Post was assaulted during the riots. Marina Dias was interviewing a woman when protesters yelled at her, chased her, pushed her to the ground and kicked her repeatedly. The attackers pulled her hair and attempted to take her cellphone from her pants pocket. A navy officer entered the crowd and pulled her to safety.
The Union of Professional Journalists of the Brasília Federal District said at least eight journalists were attacked while reporting on the riots.
The assault underscored the challenge ahead for Lula as he seeks to lead a deeply divided nation polarized in the aftermath of the closest election in Brazilian history and poisoned by the global era of toxic politics.
Protesters launched the invasion around 2:30 p.m. local time. Justice Minister Flavio Dino said it would be met by security forces.
“This absurd attempt to impose the will by force will not prevail,” he tweeted. “The Government of the Federal District claims that there will be reinforcements. And the forces at our disposal are at work. I’m at the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice.”
Lula won Brazil's closest-ever election. That was the easy part.
The assault came amid what seemed to be a surge of Bolsonaro supporters arriving in Brasilia over the weekend, and as invitations pledging free food and buses to the capital allegedly circulated on social media. The newcomers joined protesters camped out since election day in front of military headquarters to call for intervention. Many adhered to the belief that commanders would stop Lula from taking power last week. When their hopes were dashed, their anger appeared to reach a tipping point.
Police in the capital meanwhile appeared to relax security measures that had been imposed for inauguration day. Anderson Torres, the secretary of public security in the Brasília Federal District, was Bolsonaro’s justice minister. On Sunday, he condemned the rioters on Twitter, but was fired by the state governor. Brazilian media reported that Torres was in Florida, but he said he was not with Bolsonaro. The Post could not independently confirm his whereabouts.
Torres told Folha de São Paulo that he had not seen Bolsonaro during his Florida trip. “I didn’t come to the United States to meet Bolsonaro. I did not meet him at any time. I’m on holidays with my family. There was no conspiracy so that it [the insurrection] happened,” he said
Later Sunday, the president’s legal team called on the Supreme Court to issue a warrant for Torres’s arrest, and demanded an investigation into the organization of the riots on social media. They called on cellular phone companies to keep records so geolocation could be used to identify rioters. They demanded the investigation and prosecution of all involved, including any members of the police. Ibaneis Rocha, governor of the Brasília Federal District, tweeted Sunday night that at least 400 people had been detained.
Dino said 40 buses used by rioters had been seized. He said authorities had “already discovered who paid for these buses.” He said governors of other Brazilian states were dispatching security reinforcements to the capital.
“There are still people on the internet talking about the continuation of these terrorist acts,” Dino said. “They will not succeed in destroying Brazilian democracy.”
The United States, European Union and Latin American countries were quick to condemn the insurrection. “The United States condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted. “President Biden is following the situation closely and our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazil’s democracy will not be shaken by violence.”
Source: Washington Post
BDST: 1343 HRS, JAN 09, 2023
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