Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited the looted presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court on Sunday after supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded the buildings, the Globo television network reported.
The veteran leftist was visiting the flood-hit city of Araraquara in the country’s southeastern state of Sao Paulo when the attacks occurred, but flew back to Brasilia to oversee the response to what he called the attack.” fascist” of the demonstrators calling for military intervention to overthrow their government.
Lula visited the Planalto Palace, seat of the Federal Government, as well as the Supreme Court, where he met with its president, Rosa Weber, and various ministers.
The president’s visit has served to analyze the destruction of the offices of the powers, since the supporters of the former leader would have broken part of the patrimony, according to the Brazilian television network O Globo.
“The coup leaders who promoted the destruction of public property in Brasilia are being identified and will be punished,” tweeted the president, who will deliver on Monday from the presidential palace despite the damage.
In a tweet, Bolsonaro, who left for the United States two days before Lula’s inauguration, condemned the “looting and invasion of public buildings.”
In another message, the far-right rejected the “unfounded” accusations of his successor. For his part, Lula declared that the “speeches” of the extreme right-wing ex-president had “stimulated” the “fascist vandals” to invade the offices of the Presidency, Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in Brasilia, neighboring buildings located in the so-called Explanada de los Ministerios.
Faced with an enormous political crisis in just his first week in power, Lula denounced an “anti-democratic gesture” as “never done in the history of this country” and announced legal punishments against the “vandals” responsible for the destruction and “who They finance them.”
Throughout the day, a human tide dressed in yellow and green, colors of the national flag but co-opted by the Bolsonaristas, occupied the headquarters of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Powers in the Brazilian capital (center), according to AFP.
The head of state ordered the federal control of local law enforcement in Brasilia, where the policemen were completely overwhelmed by the protesters.
theft of weapons
The radical Bolsonaristas who invaded the headquarters of the three powers this Sunday stole firearms stored in the Institutional Security Cabinet, in the Planalto presidential palace.
The Minister of Social Communication, Paulo Pimenta, showed in a video two empty firearms cases, on top of a partially burned sofa.
Deputy Wadih Damous, who accompanied the minister on the tour, stressed that the thieves “had information” about what was kept in that office, since they took weapons, ammunition and documents.
In the invaded palaces, the radicals caused considerable damage, destroying furniture, computer equipment and works of art placed in the offices.
Several Lula ministers, such as the head of Justice, Flávio Dino, and Defense, José Mucio Monteiro, met with the Army in Brasilia to discuss the situation after the assault.
