The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said Monday that he was dismayed by the incidents that occurred in Brazil on Sunday, and considered that “Brazilians will rise to the situation” and defended that there must be consequences.
“I am shocked, but I trust Brazil and its institutions,” said the former Portuguese prime minister, on the sidelines of a conference in Geneva on humanitarian aid to Pakistan.
“Brazilians will move forward and face this situation,” he said, adding that he trusts that they will know how to “deal with this situation with democracy and proper accountability.”
Those who did not respect the law “must suffer the consequences,” he added, quoted by the EFE news agency.
Thousands of supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro invaded and destroyed this Sunday the headquarters of the National Congress and successively the Palácio do Planalto, seat of government, and the Federal Supreme Court building, in the Brazilian capital.
The demonstrators advanced and broke the barriers installed by the police, and images of the invaders inside the green hall of Congress, inside and outside the Planalto Palace and the STF were disseminated on social networks.
The radicals, who do not recognize the result of the October 30 presidential election, in which Lula da Silva narrowly defeated Bolsonaro, have called for military intervention to oust the Brazilian president.
The Brazilian police initially used tear gas to unsuccessfully try to stop the protesters, but later the Military Police managed to recover the three institutions and completely evacuate Praça dos Três Poderes, in an operation that resulted in at least 300 arrests.
The invasion, immediately condemned by the international community, began after militants from the Brazilian extreme right – supporters of the former president – called a protest on the Esplanada dos Ministérios, in Brasilia.
This Monday, Lula da Silva held a series of high-level meetings in his office, the only place that was saved from the invasion on Sunday.
The President chose to deliver from his office in the Planalto Palace to demonstrate that the violent acts of the far-right radicals will not paralyze the institutions of power.
Source: TSF
