Shouting “military intervention”, thousands of supporters of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro invaded and looted the three representative buildings of power in Brasilia this Sunday: the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court.
After more than four hours, the security forces managed to evacuate the Congress, then at nightfall, to regain control of the three buildings. BFMTV.com returns to what Lula, in power for a week, described as an attempted “coup.”
• A rigorously prepared operation
True to his nickname “Trump of the tropics”, Jair Bolsonaro never stopped questioning the reliability of the elections during the electoral campaign. After being defeated by a short header by the left-wing candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his supporters have been demanding the intervention of the army since the second round, at the end of October.
Tirelessly, they demonstrated in front of the military barracks, unable to accept Lula’s return to power for a third term, after those from 2003 to 2010.
In the Brazilian press, the first accounts of the assault on Brasília show that it was rigorously and methodically prepared. Bolsonaristas met on social media, often on private messaging channels like Telegram, but also on Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter.
• More than 4,000 Bolsonaristas
The Brazilian press was also able to reconstruct the precise route of the rioters. Some 4,000 pro-Bolsonaro arrived in the federal capital between Saturday and Sunday. Around 2 in the afternoon, they gather in front of the army headquarters and begin an 8-kilometre march.
An hour later, the crowd with the yellow and green colors of the Seleção shirt -a national symbol appropriated by the Bolsonaristas- arrives at the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, a place that brings together the three palaces.
Despite the closure of the area by the authorities, the rioters managed to force the security cordons in a few minutes. After invading Congress and the Planalto, they enter the Supreme Court.
• A lot of damages
The Bolsonaristas have caused considerable damage to the three enormous palaces, treasures of Oscar Niemeyer’s modern architecture, which are filled with works of art. Pictures of inestimable value were damaged, including “Los mulatos”, by the modernist painter Di Cavalcanti, exhibited in the Presidential Palace and pierced with several holes, according to photos circulating on social networks.
Videos were also released showing the ransacked offices of parliamentarians. In the crowd, a man was immortalized holding an original copy of the 1988 Constitution. In the Senate, another rioter sat in the president’s seat, in a striking imitation of the pro-Donald Trump rioters who had invaded the Capitol two years ago. years.
Rioters set fire to the carpet in a hall of Congress, which had to be flooded to put out the fire, according to CNN, and videos circulating online show a man urinating and defecating on a desk.
• Police intervention and conviction of Lula
It is not until 5:00 p.m. that the Brasilia police begin to regain control of the capital, making use of their entire arsenal. At 6:00 p.m., four hours after the events began, the three buildings were removed from the hands of the rioters.
From the state of São Paulo, where he was traveling, Lula spoke out and decreed a “federal intervention”, which allowed local law enforcement to be placed under the command of federal forces in the event of a serious crisis. “We will find them all and they will all be punished,” the Brazilian president said, calling the rioters in turn “fascist hooligans,” “Nazis” and “fanatical Stalinists.”
“Democracy guarantees freedom of expression, but it also demands that institutions be respected,” he added, deploring events “unprecedented in the history of Brazil.”
While Lula accused his predecessor of instigating violence, the latter simply wrote in a tweet that “peaceful protests, in accordance with the law, are part of democracy. However, the depredations and invasions of public buildings (…) are contrary to the rule”. “, while he defends himself against Lula’s” unproven “accusations.
In total, more than 300 people were arrested, according to the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flavio Dino. After passing the buildings through bomb detectors, Lula traveled to Brasilia. Images from TV Globo show him in late-night conversations with Supreme Court judges, outside the building with its windows broken by those who still refuse to accept his return to power.
• Police designated and ongoing investigations
“The coup leaders who promoted the destruction of public property in Brasilia are being identified and will be punished. Tomorrow we resume work on the Planalto Palace. Democracy always,” Lula tweeted.
Indeed, the judicial authorities of Brazil have begun the first investigations to determine the responsibilities of the assault. The first head fell: the governor of the Federal District of Brasilia, Ibaneis Rocha, an ally of Jair Bolsonaro, was suspended for 90 days.
In a video, he apologized to President Lula, calling those responsible for the “depredations” of public buildings “real vandals” and “real terrorists.” “We were monitoring all these movements with the Minister (of Justice) Flavio Dino (…) At no time did we think that these demonstrations would take such proportions,” he justified himself.
Behind the governor’s suspension, a question arises: rioters? Videos show some of them taking photos with the rioters or taking selfies while the invasion was in full swing. In other images, some appear to be escorting the Bolsonaristas during their 8-kilometre march, directly to the Place des Trois Pouvoirs.
Source: BFM TV
