Brazil’s authorities brace for possibility of additional riots
BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s capital prepared for the possibility of more violent demonstrations Wednesday by people seeking to overturn the presidential election, with local security officials blocking access to buildings trashed four days earlier by a horde of rioters.
A flyer promoting a “mega-protest to retake power” circulated on social media platforms and urged protesters to turn out in two dozen cities, including the capital. It was unclear how large or violent such demonstrations might shape up to be, but skittish authorities took no chances.
The federal appointee who has assumed control of the capital’s security said police were shutting down the main avenue to traffic and limiting pedestrian access with barricades. They are blocking all access to the square that was the site of Sunday’s mayhem, said the official, Ricarado Cappelli.
Citing the call to action on social media, a Supreme
Court justice ordered local authorities in cities across Brazil to prevent protesters from blocking roads or occupying public spaces and buildings. Justice Alexandre de Moraes also ordered arrests and fines for people and companies who participate or help with logistics and funding.
The nation remains on edge after supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro rampaged through Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace on Sunday. Officials arrested or detained some 1,500 people by the following morning.
Though there is no evidence of fraud in the Oct. 30 presidential election, protesters have claimed the true winner was Bolsonaro. The far-right former president has fired up his base about the vulnerability of electronic voting machines despite independent experts’ assurances they are closely scrutinized. Bolsonaro also has warned his supporters that the election’s leftist winner, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, would impose communism.
The fresh call for an uprising sparked concern that the crackdown hadn’t damped the will of radicals. Among those is Daniel Bressan, who traveled some 300 miles from the interior of Parana state to join Sunday’s protest in Brasilia. He was detained by police the next morning, though he denies participating in any of the vandalism.
“A lot of people are going to be afraid to go to the streets and be arrested — I myself fear persecution by the legal system — but I’m not going to stop fighting and I’m not going to get discouraged,” Bressan, 35, said by phone from the federal police’s temporary holding center. “I’m ready for everything. Our freedom is worth more than our lives.”
Jailing rioters represents only part of the government’s effort to hold people responsible, with authorities also seeking to track down those who enabled the uprising. That includes organizers who summoned protesters to the capital and paid their way as well as local security personnel accused of either standing by and allowing the destruction to occur, or even cooperating.