Bolsonaro loyalists raid Brazilian congress
Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president, have stormed the country’s congress in an attempt to overturn his election defeat. His supporters burst through security barriers in the country’s capital, Brasilia, forcing their way into the Planalto presidential palace, the supreme court and the parliamentary building. Police used tear gas in an attempt to contain the mob. Many of Mr Bolsonaro’s supporters have called for a military coup.
HUNDREDS of supporters of Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed prominent government buildings on Sunday afternoon in an attempt to overturn his election defeat in October.
Rioters burst through security barriers in the country’s capital Brasilia, forcing their way into the presidential palace, Supreme Court and Congress buildings, destroying much of their interior. Police used tear gas in an attempt to contain the mob as security guards sought cover and protesters made their way onto the roof of the modernist Congress building.
Inside the edifice, criminals used furniture to erect barricades. Many of the mob were wearing the distinctive yellow shirt of the country’s football team as they paraded through the building, and jubilant protesters live-streamed their invasion on social media.
One wrote: “This is “the invasion — no, the occupation — of Congress.”
Violence escalated during the afternoon with pole-wielding protesters attacking the police. One officer was pulled off his horse and there have been several reports of journalists being physically assaulted and robbed.
By the early evening, law enforcement had removed the trespassers from all three buildings, arresting 30 people.
Brazil’s legislative or judiciary systems are both in recess until February, meaning the headquarters were largely empty.
Meanwhile, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, sworn in on 1 January, was in São Paulo state inspecting the damage of heavy rains in the small city of
Araraquara. “Everyone involved in this act will be found and punished”, said Lula, speaking to the press on Sunday evening before returning to Brasília. He called the riot “barbaric” and its perpetrators “fanatical fascists.”
The president issued an emergency decree allowing the federal government to intervene in the capital’s public security apparatus.
The solicitor general’s office called for the immediate arrest of Brasília’s head public security officer Anderson Torres, who until 1 January was Mr Bolsonaro’s justice minister.
Mr Torres, who was sacked hours after the riot broke out, is currently in the United States visiting the far-right former president. Mr Bolsonaro has been in Florida since the beginning of November, where he is living in a home rented from a retired mixed martial arts fighter. He has not commented on the latest unrest.
Lula, meanwhile, blamed Mr Bolsonaro for the riots, saying vandals were encouraged by “the genocidal man resting in Miami”.
Lula narrowly defeated Mr Bolsonaro in Brazil’s October election.