On Sunday, supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro breached a security blockade and stormed into several government buildings, including the ministries and Congress building, causing violence reminiscent of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.
According to reports, the protestors numbered in the millions.
Supporters of Brazil’s former right-wing president invaded the Supreme Court, the Congress building, and surrounded the presidential palace in Brasilia, according to television images, Reuters reports.
Protesters also swarmed the parking lot of the Planalto Palace, according to CNN Brasil, although Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula Silva, is currently on an official trip in Sao Paulo state, and lawmakers are on recess.
“This absurd attempt to impose the will by force will not prevail,” Flavio Dino, Lula’s justice minister, wrote on Twitter. “The Government of the Federal District claims that there will be reinforcements. And the forces at our disposal are at work. I’m at the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice.”
Video footage shared on social media depicted a large number of people entering the building, where they were met with police using tear gas to disperse them.
Many of the protestors dispute the result of the Oct 30 election in which leftist Lula beat Bolsonaro.
The former president repeatedly questioned the credibility of the country’s electronic voting system, and many of his hardcore supporters believe him.
Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida 48 hours before the end of his mandate.
Lula’s Workers Party asked the office of the top public prosecutor to order public security forces to act in containing the demonstrators, according to Reuters.
This is a developing story.
