Brazilian police regain control of government headquarters after demonstrations by Bolsonaristas

The Brazilian security forces managed to regain control of Congress, the Planalto Palace – the presidential seat – and the headquarters of the Tribunal Supremo Federaloccupied by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who wanted to force a coup, after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva assumed the presidency of Brazil.

Security forces from the Federal Supreme Court and shock forces from the Military Police of the Federal District managed to regain control of the Court’s headquarters in the middle of the afternoon and it was not until early at night that they retook control of Congress using riot control and flashbang grenades, reports The globe.

They also displaced the protesters from the Plateau Palace, the presidential palace, although the demonstrators continue to concentrate on what is known as Esplanade of the Ministries communicates all these buildings, now contained by a security cordon of agents.

So far, the Brazilian authorities have reported that 30 people have been arrested, although some media report that those arrested could already well exceed one hundred.

The detainees are in dependencies of the Civil Police of the Federal District, specifically in the Specialized Police Department, where the arrival of more suspects is expected.

Most are being arrested under Article 359-M of the Penal Code, which provides for between 4 and 12 years in prison for “attempted removal of a legitimately elected government.”

The demonstrators were initially concentrated in front of the headquarters of the Army General Headquarters, very close to the headquarters of the three State Powers, when they went to Congress and broke into its premises after overcoming the police cordon and tearing out the barbed wire.

Later they went to the presidential headquarters and the Supreme Court, where they invaded the plenary of the court. Images of the protesters causing significant damage inside the buildings have emerged.

Thus, it has been possible to see images of protesters dressed in green and yellow tearing up seats in Congress or breaking windows and tables at the headquarters of the Federal Supreme Court. Precisely in this last building, the door of the closet where Judge Alexandre de Moraes hangs his robe in the plenary court was reportedly torn off. De Moraes has been one of the most critical judges of Bolsonaro.

Intervention of the authorities of Brasilia

In response to the assault, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva decreed that the federal government assume responsibility for the security of the Federal District of Brasilia and described those responsible for the attack as “vandals” and “fascists.”

“It has never been done in the history of this country,” he lamented during a speech in which he recalled his own electoral defeats and the historical position of the left. Democracy, she added, guarantees freedom of expression, “but it also demands respect for institutions.”

“All the vandals will be found and punished,” said the president, before reading out loud the details of a decree that involves intervention in the powers that theoretically belong to Brasilia, whose work had been questioned by the ruling party after the chaos experienced in the streets of the capital.

“They took advantage of the silence on Sunday, when we are still forming a government, to do what they did,” said Lula, promising to persecute both the direct participants and those who have promoted the “anti-democratic gesture” of the last few hours.

In this sense, he recalled that there are “various speeches” by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, in which he “encourages” the seizure of the different Powers. “This is also his responsibility and that of the parties that supported him,” he said.

Bolsonaro’s silence

Meanwhile, the veiled protagonist of this attack, the former president Jair Bolsonaromaintains his silence despite the fact that until shortly before the assault his publications on social networks were frequent, defending his management with economic data.

However, the president of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, has distanced himself from the “shame” of the assault and has called the day a “sad day for Brazil.”

Costa Neto published a video in which he assures that those responsible for this attack on the institutions “do not represent” Bolsonaro. “All the acts that we have done after the elections in front of the barracks have been an example of education, trust and Brazilianness”, said the leader of the PL.

“There were families representing Boslonaro, representing the right. That act today in Brasilia is a shame for all of us and does not represent our party or Bolsonaro,” he said.

For Costa Neto, “the police are security and these security sectors have to do their job.” “We do not support these acts. We do support ‘Patria, familia y libertad’. We support acts of goodness. That act today in Brasilia has been a shame for all of us,” he insisted.

Costa Neto has thus referred to the camps of Bolsonaro supporters in front of different barracks of the Brazilian Armed Forces to demand a coup to “save Brazil” and depose Lula, winner of the October 2022 elections.

The security forces have not dissolved these concentrations either in front of the Army Headquarters in Brasilia, the starting point of the demonstration this Sunday. The camps began after confirming the electoral defeat of Jair Bolsonaro against Lula.

international condemnation

The assault on the headquarters of the three Brazilian Powers has been immediately condemned at the international level by both Lula-friendly rulers and right-wing leaders.

The first to speak on social networks was the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, to request the application of the Democratic Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS). “It is urgent time for the OAS meeting if it wants to continue to live as an institution and apply the democratic charter,” Petro posted on his Twitter account.

“All my solidarity with (Luiz Inácio) Lula (Da Silva) and the people of Brazil. Fascism decides to carry out a coup. The right wing has not been able to maintain the non-violence pact,” he said.

They have also reacted the president of Chile, Gabriel Boricor that of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, who have criticized the “unpresentable” attack by the Bolsonaristas and the “unacceptable anti-democratic reaction that tries to impose itself in Brazil.”

For his part, the head of state of Ecuador, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, has joined the criticism against “the actions of disrespect and vandalism” perpetrated against “democratic institutions”, since they “attack the democratic order and citizen security”. “I express my support and that of my government to the legally constituted Lula regime,” Lasso said.

The United States also condemned the events through the charge d’affaires of the United States Embassy in Brazil, Douglas Koneff. “Violence has no place in any democracy. We strongly condemn the attacks on the institutions of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches in Brasilia, which are also an attack on democracy. There is no justification for these acts!” Koneff said.

From the other side of the Atlantic, the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, was “dismayed” by “the actions of violence and the illegal occupation” of institutions at the hands of thousands of “extremists”, while the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, expressed his “absolute condemnation” of the assault.

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