3,000 join ‘Trump-style’ riot in Brazil
UP to 3,000 supporters of former Brazil leader Jair Bolsonaro yesterday stormed the country’s national congress building, presidential palace and supreme court.
The mass protest in Brasilia was similar to the invasion of the US Capitol in Washington DC by Donald Trump’s supporters in 2021 as they bitterly claimed Joe Biden’s election victory was rigged.
The Brazilian far-Right protesters called for the military to overthrow new Left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – who has only been in power for a week. Bolsonaro supporters claim the election was stolen by the 77-yearold veteran known as Lula.
Protesters dressed in the green and yellow of the Brazil flag flooded on to the floor of congress and scaled the building’s roof to unfurl a banner with an appeal to the armed forces which read: ‘Intervention.’ Other rioters broke doors and trashed offices. Protesters outside pulled a policeman from his horse and beat him to the ground. Police fired tear gas in a vain bid to disperse the mob.
Last night Lula branded the riot ‘barbarism in Brasilia’ and vowed: ‘Whoever did this will be found and punished.’ He posted on Twitter: ‘Those people we call fascists, – the most abominable thing in politics – invaded the palace and congress... There is no precedent in the history of the country for what they did today.’