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RIO DE JANEIRO, 9 Jan (AP) \u2014 Brazilian authorities were vowing to protect democracy and preparing to mete out punishment Monday after thousands of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace then trashed the nation\u2019s highest seats of power.<\/p>\n
The protesters were seeking military intervention to either restore the far-right Bolsonaro to power or oust the newly inaugurated leftist Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, unleashing chaos and destruction that bore striking similarities to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n
Rioters donning the green and yellow of the national flag on Sunday broke windows, toppled furniture, hurled computers and printers to the ground. They punctured a massive Emiliano Di Cavalcanti painting in five places, overturned the U-shaped table at which Supreme Court justices convene, ripped a door off one justice\u2019s office and vandalized an iconic statue outside the court. The monumental buildings\u2019 interiors were left in states of ruin.<\/p>\n
Authorities made a point to show that they were moving to prevent further attacks on Brazil\u2019s democratic rule of law.<\/p>\n
In a news conference late Sunday, Brazil\u2019s minister of institutional relations said the buildings would be inspected for evidence including fingerprints and images to hold people to account, and that the rioters apparently intended to spark similar such actions nationwide. Justice Minister Fl\u00e1vio Dino said the acts amounted to terrorism and coup-mongering and that police have begun tracking those who paid for the buses that transported protesters to the capital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will not succeed in destroying Brazilian democracy. We need to say that fully, with all firmness and conviction,\u201d Dino said. \u201cWe will not accept the path of criminality to carry out political fights in Brazil. A criminal is treated like a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, more than 1,200 people have been detained, the justice ministry\u2019s press office said Monday. But police were noticeably slow to react – even after the arrival of more than 100 busses – leading many to ponder whether authorities had either simply ignored numerous warnings, underestimated the protesters\u2019 strength or had been somehow complicit.
\nPublic prosecutors in the capital said local security forces had at very least been negligent while a supreme court justice temporarily suspended the regional governor. Another justice blamed authorities for not swiftly cracking down on Brazil\u2019s budding neofascism, adding that they will be held criminally responsible.<\/p>\n
In the months that followed Bolsonaro\u2019s Oct. 30 electoral defeat, Brazil was on edge \u2013 leery of any avenue he might pursue to cling to power. Bolsonaro had been stoking belief among his hardcore supporters that the electronic voting system was prone to fraud \u2014 though he never presented any evidence. And his lawmaker son Eduardo Bolsonaro held several meetings with former U.S. President Donald Trump, Trump\u2019s longtime ally Steve Bannon and his senior campaign adviser, Jason Miller.<\/p>\n
Results from Brazil\u2019s election \u2014 the closest in over three decades \u2014 were quickly recognized by politicians across the spectrum, including some Bolsonaro allies, as well as dozens of governments. And Bolsonaro surprised nearly everyone by promptly fading from view. He neither conceded defeat nor emphatically cried fraud, though he and his party submitted a request to nullify millions of votes that was swiftly dismissed.<\/p>\n
Brazilians have used electronic voting since 1996 that security experts consider less secure than hand-marked paper ballots because they leave no auditable paper trail. Brazil\u2019s system is, however, closely scrutinized and domestic authorities and international observers have never found evidence of it being exploited to commit fraud.<\/p>\n
Still, Bolsonaro\u2019s supporters refused to accept the results. They blocked roads and have remained camped outside military buildings, urging the armed forces to intervene. Dino, the justice minister, referred to the encampments as incubators of terrorism. Protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, but isolated isolated threats \u2014 including a bomb found on a fuel truck headed to Brasilia\u2019s airport \u2014 had prompted security concerns.<\/p>\n
Two days before Lula\u2019s Jan. 1 inauguration, Bolsonaro flew to the U.S. and took up temporary residence in Orlando. Many Brazilians expressed relief that, while he declined to participate in the transition of power, his absence allowed it to occur without incident.<\/p>\n
Or so it had been, until Sunday\u2019s havoc.<\/p>\n
\u201cBolsonarism mimics the same strategies as Trumpism. Our Jan. 8 \u2014 an unprecedented manifestation in Brazilian politics \u2014 is clearly copied from Jan. 6 in the Capitol,\u201d said Paulo Calmon, a political science professor at the University of Brasilia. \u201cToday\u2019s sad episodes represent yet another attempt to destabilize democracy and demonstrate that the authoritarian, populist radicalism of Brazil\u2019s extreme right remains active under the command of former President Bolsonaro, the \u2018Trump of Latin America.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. President Joe Biden tweeted that the riots were an \u201cassault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil,\u201d and that he looked forward to continue working with Lula.<\/p>\n
In a news conference from Sao Paulo state, Lula read a freshly signed decree for the federal government to assume control of security in the federal district. He said that the so-called \u201cfascist fanatics,\u201d as well as those who financed their activities, must be punished, and also accused Bolsonaro of encouraging their uprising.<\/p>\n
Bolsonaro repudiated the president\u2019s accusation late Sunday. Writing on Twitter, he said peaceful protest is part of democracy, but vandalism and invasion of public buildings are \u201cexceptions to the rule.\u201d He made no specific mention of the protesters\u2019 actions in Brasilia.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is evidently the intellectual mentor of what is happening, so he cannot dissociate from it,\u201d said Mario S\u00e9rgio Lima, political analyst at Medley Advisors. \u201cThese groups were created by him, by the radicalism he imposed on politics. There is no way to undo that. … It seems his group has already crossed the Rubicon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike the 2021 attack in the U.S., few officials would have been working in the top government buildings on a Sunday. And videos showed limited presence of the capital\u2019s military police.<\/p>\n
One video showed one group of protesters easily pushing through a police barricade with only a few officers using pepper spray. Another showed officers standing by as protesters stormed the Congress, including one using his phone to record what was happening.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a gross error by the federal district\u2019s government. It was a tragedy foretold,\u201d said Thiago de Arag\u00e3o, director of strategy at Brasilia-based politican consultancy Arko Advice. \u201cEveryone knew they (the protesters) were coming to Brasilia. The expectation was that the federal district\u2019s government was going to mount a response to protect the capital. They didn\u2019t do any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lula said at his news conference there was \u201cincompetence or bad faith\u201d on the part of police, and he promised some would be punished.<\/p>\n
Federal District Gov. Ibaneis Rocha confirmed on Twitter he had fired the capital city\u2019s head of public security, Anderson Torres. Local media reported that Torres is in Orlando for vacation, and that he denied having met with Bolsonaro there.<\/p>\n
Soon after, Brazil\u2019s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Rocha removed from his position as governor for 90 days. He wrote in his decision that the day\u2019s events could only have transpired \u201cwith the consent, and even effective participation, of the competent public security and intelligence authorities,\u201d and called Rocha\u2019s actions \u201cintentionally omissive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo years since Jan. 6, Trump\u2019s legacy continues to poison our hemisphere,\u201d U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who chairs the Senate\u2019s foreign relations committee, tweeted, adding that he blamed Bolsonaro for inciting the acts. \u201cProtecting democracy & holding malign actors to account is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n
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