Brazil’s da Silva in police custody after showdown with supporters
SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil — Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was taken into police custody Saturday after a tense showdown with his own supporters, the capstone of an intense three days that underscored raw emotions over the incarceration of a once popular leader who has been engulfed by corruption allegations.
Hours earlier, da Silva told thousands of supporters he would turn himself in to police, but also maintained his innocence and argued his corruption conviction was a way for enemies to make sure he doesn’t run for re-election in October.
When he first tried to leave to turn himself in, however, dozens of supporters blocked a gate where a car carrying da Silva was trying to exit.
After a few minutes of tense words between guards and supporters, the former president got out of the car and entered the metal workers union headquarters where he had been holed up.
Police vehicles surrounded the union that was the birthplace of da Silva’s rise to power, raising the fears of clashes. Da Silva emerged a second time shortly after nightfall, this time surrounded by bodyguards who pushed back scores of supporters who tried to stop his advance.
The former leader is the latest of many high-profile people to be ensnared in possibly the largest corruption scandal in Latin American history.
Investigators uncovered a major scheme in which construction companies essentially formed a cartel that doled out inflated contracts from state oil company Petrobras, paying billions in kickbacks to politicians and businessmen.