Brasilia: Supporters of far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attempted to storm federal police headquarters in the capital Brasilia on Monday, in a spate of post-election violence after the president’s election defeat was confirmed.
JEE News witnesses saw Bolsonaro supporters, many in their trademark yellow national soccer jerseys or draped in Brazilian flags, confronting security forces at police headquarters. Police fired stun grenades and tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. Nearby buses and cars were set on fire.
Federal police said the “disturbance” near the headquarters was being handled in cooperation with the capital’s security forces.
According to the judge who ordered his arrest, the violence came after a Bolsonaro supporter was detained for allegedly conducting violent “anti-democratic acts”.
Earlier on Monday, the Federal Electoral Court (TSE) confirmed the October 30 victory of Bolsonaro’s leftist rival, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as president. After months of unsubstantiated suggestions that Brazil’s voting system was rigged, Bolsonaro has neither conceded defeat to Lula nor formally halted the transfer of power.
But some of the president’s most hardline supporters have blocked highways in protest and camped out in front of army barracks, calling for a military coup to remove Lula from office.
Hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters gathered outside the presidential residence on Monday afternoon with banners calling for “military intervention”. The president joined them in public prayer but did not address the crowd.
“The inauguration is not going to happen,” said Jose Trindad, 58, one of Bolsonaro’s supporters in the crowd. “Bolsonaro was re-elected, but he stole it. So only the military can put things in order.”
Conspiracy theories and the resulting violence have brought back memories of the January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former US President Donald Trump. It also raises security concerns about January 1, when Lula will take office in a public ceremony in Brasilia.
Senator Randolph Rodriguez, a key Lula aide, said there were concerns about the physical safety of Lula and Vice President-elect Geraldo Alcman, as protesters surrounded the hotel where they are staying in Brasilia. Lula’s team denied reports that Lula would be airlifted from the hotel by helicopter.
Brasilia public security officials said they had secured the area around Lula’s hotel, and urged motorists to avoid the city center where many roads were closed.
Sparked by the arrest.
The violence in Brasilia came as Supreme Court Justice Alexander de Moraes, who led the investigation against Bolsonaro and his allies, ordered the temporary arrest of Jose Acasio Serre Zavante on Monday for alleged anti-democratic acts. .
Xavante, an indigenous leader, is among Bolsonaro’s supporters who have protested against the October 30 election results.
“I cannot accept the rule of criminals in Brazil,” Xavante tweeted last month. “Lola can’t be confirmed.”
Last week, Bolsonaro broke his silence in the weeks following the election, saying his situation “hurts my soul.”
“Who decides where I go, you are,” Bolsonaro told supporters at the gates of the presidential residence on Friday.
In a statement, the Supreme Court said Morris “ordered the provisional arrest of local Jose Acasio Cerrere Zavante for 10 days, due to evidence of the commission of crimes of intimidation, persecution and violent suppression of the law of the republic.” “
It said the Xavante had led protests across Brasilia and threatened Lula and Supreme Court justices, “as leaders of the Xavante people to involve indigenous and non-indigenous people in committing crimes.” used his position.”
The statement added that Xavante “clearly called for armed people to prevent the confirmation of elected politicians.”
