Supporters of the ultra-right Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro today stormed the closed congress area in the capital Brasilia. Police reportedly used tear gas to push back hundreds of protesters. The incident came a week after the inauguration of new left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The area around the congress had been cordoned off by the authorities. Bolsonaro’s supporters, who do not accept Lula’s victory in the presidential election, overcame the barriers. Several dozen of them ran up the ramp to the building to occupy the roof of the building.
“I condemn these anti-democratic acts that urgently need to be punished with the harshness of the law,” Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco wrote on Twitter. The Senate and the House of Representatives are located in the Congress building. The images brought back memories of the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
However, there were no MPs in the Brazilian Congress today. President Lula is currently in Sao Paulo.
