Several thousand supporters of Jair Bolsonaro stormed and ransacked official buildings in the Brazilian capital on Sunday, before being dislodged by the police. The invasion, reminiscent of that of the Capitol two years ago in the United States, was carefully prepared and the judicial authorities are now trying to determine the responsibilities.
Screaming at “military intervention”, thousands of supporters of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro invaded and ransacked the three representative buildings of Brasilia’s power on Sunday: the presidential palace, the 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 “putsch”.
• A rigorously prepared operation
True to his nickname “Trump of the Tropics”, Jair Bolsonaro never ceased, during the electoral campaign, to question the reliability of the elections. After being defeated by a short head by the left-wing candidate, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his supporters have been demanding since the second round, at the end of October, the intervention of the army.
Tirelessly, they demonstrated in front of military barracks, unable to accept a return to power Lula for a third term, after those of 2003 to 2010.
In the Brazilian press, the first accounts of the assault on Brasilia show quit has been rigorously and methodically prepared. Bolsonarists met on social networks, often on private messaging channels like Telegram, but also Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.
• More than 4000 bolsonarists
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 p.m., they gather in front of the army headquarters and begin an 8 kilometer march.
An hour later, the crowd in the yellow and green colors of the Seleção jersey – a national symbol appropriated by the Bolsonarists – arrives at the Three Powers Square, 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.
• Many damages
The Bolsonarists have caused considerable damage to the three huge palaces, treasures of Oscar Niemeyer’s modern architecture, which are full of works of art. Paintings of inestimable value were damaged, including “The mulattoes”, by the modernist painter Di Cavalcanti, exhibited in the Presidential Palace and pierced with several holes, according to photos circulating on social networks.
Videos showing the ransacked offices of parliamentarians were also released. In the crowd, a man was immortalized holding up an original copy of the 1988 Constitution. In the Senate, another rioter sat in the president’s seat, in startling mimicry of the pro-Donald Trump rioters who had invaded the Capitol two years ago.
Rioters set fire to the carpet in a congressional lounge, which had to be flooded to put out the blaze, 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 p.m. that the Brasilia police begin to regain control of the capital, making use of all their arsenal. At 6 p.m., four hours after the start of the events, the three buildings were taken back from the rioters.
From the state of São Paulo, where he was traveling, Lula spoke and decreed a “federal intervention”, which made it possible to place local law enforcement under the command of federal forces in the event of a serious crisis. “We will find them all and they will all be punished,” said the Brazilian president, calling the rioters in turn “fascist vandals”, “Nazis” and “fanatical Stalinists”.
“Democracy guarantees freedom of expression, but it also requires that institutions be respected,” he added, deploring incidents “unprecedented in the history of Brazil”.
While Lula accused his predecessor of instigating the violence, the latter simply wrote in a tweet that “peaceful protests, in accordance with the law, are part of democracy. However, depredations and invasions of public buildings (. ..) are against the rule”, while defending himself from 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. TV Globo footage shows him in late-night talks with Supreme Court justices, outside the building with windows smashed by those who still refuse to accept his return to power.
• Police singled out and ongoing investigations
“The putschists who promoted the destruction of public property in Brasilia are being identified and will be punished. Tomorrow we resume work at the Planalto Palace. Democracy always,” Lula tweeted.
The judicial authorities in Brazil have indeed launched the first investigations to determine the responsibilities of the storming. 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 on such proportions”, he justified himself.
Behind the suspension of the governor, a question arises: rioters? Videos show some of them taking pictures with rioters or taking selfies as the invasion was in full swing. On other images, some appear to escort the Bolsonarists during their 8 kilometer march, directly to the Place des Trois Pouvoirs.
