The AmericasLula Tours Destruction in Brasilia After Riots
Thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, the former right-populist president who lost the 31 October election to the center-left candidate Lula, broke into and ransacked the presidential office building in Brasilia on Sunday. These supporters want Bolsonaro reinstated and have called for the military to stage a coup. Bolsonaro did not attend Lula’s 1 January inauguration. He is now in Florida, where he is staying in order to avoid corruption investigations to which he is exposed now that he is no longer in office.
Brazil’s president toured the federal buildings in the capital, Brasilia, that were attacked Sunday by supporters of his opponent in the recent presidential race.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva toured the heavily damaged buildings late Sunday and decreed a federal security intervention in the city’s federal district. He vowed to bring the rioters to justice and promised to punish the police who failed to stop the protesters.
The decree gives the government special powers to restore law and order in the capital and lasts until January 31.
Brazilian officials say they have arrested at least 200 supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who ransacked the Supreme Court, Congress and the presidential palace in Brasilia on Sunday.
Thousands of demonstrators swarmed the buildings. Video of the assault on the government properties show the protesters smashing windows, climbing roofs and other destructive activities. The Associated Press reported that the buildings’ interiors were left in states of ruin.
Brazilian authorities said they intend to hold the protestors accountable and will inspect the building for fingerprints and will look at images taken during the destruction.
Justice minister Flavio Dino said the government also will seek to find out who paid for the several hundred buses that transported the rioters to Brasilia.
Bolsonaro’s supporters want him reinstated and have called for the military to stage a coup. He lost the recent presidential election to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who was sworn into office a week ago.
Bolsonaro left Brazil before Lula’s inauguration and has been staying in Orlando in the southern U.S. state of Florida.
The protesters’ invasion of the Brazilian government buildings echoed the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. However, unlike in Washington, where lawmakers were in session on January 6, the buildings in Brasilia were largely vacant.
A strong police or military presence was also absent despite advance warnings that Bolsonaro’s supporters planned to descend on the buildings.
There is no precedent for what they did, and these people need to be punished,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Sunday.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the riots in Brazil were “outrageous.”
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, posted on Twitter that the U.S.“condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil.”
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopex Obrador said, “the coup attempt by the Brazilian conservatives urged on by the leadership of oligarchic power, their spokespersons and fanatics, is reprehensible and undemocratic. Lula is not alone, he has the support of the progressive forces of his country, Mexico, the American continent, and the world.”
“The violent attacks on democratic institutions are an attack on democracy that cannot be tolerated,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on Twitter. He said that Germany stands behind Brazil’s current president.
Tamara Taraciuk Broner, acting director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas Division, said, “police and the attorney general office need to investigate not just those who committed acts of violence, but those who incited and financed them. Those responsible for this extremely serious attack on Brazil’s democratic institutions should be held accountable.”
Amnesty International called for “the relevant authorities to conduct prompt, impartial and effective investigations so that the acts of this Sunday, 8 January, are appropriately investigated and sanctioned.”
This article is published courtesy of the Voice of America (VOA).
