Brazilian police release hundreds of Bolsonaristas after assault on government offices

the police of Brazil released this Tuesday “for humanitarian reasons” almost 600 people detained after the assault on official headquarters on Sunday in Brasilia, with which they sought the fall of leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“599 detainees were released, generally the elderly, people with health problems, homeless and mothers accompanied by children,” the Brazilian Federal Police said in a statement.

The authorities detained more than 1,500 people after the invasions of the buildings of the Presidency, the Supreme Court and Congress, carried out by followers of the former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Supporters of the ex-president, hospitalized in the United States for an abdominal problem, were seeking the departure of Lula, who took power on January 1 for the third time.

At this moment, 527 people are in jail and others are being “subjected to procedures by the judicial police,” the note added.

The released individuals were confined in a gym of the National Academy of the Federal Police in the Brazilian capital.

Upon their release, some were transported by bus to a station from where they were able to return to their homes. Others were taken to police stations and later transferred to the Papuda prison complex, an AFP journalist found.

From one of the vehicles the passengers shouted “Victory is ours!”. Some stuck their arms out of the windows, clenching their fists or making the “V” gesture for victory.

“Now we are going to rest and prepare for a new fight, because if they think they are going to intimidate us, they are very wrong,” Augustinho Ribeiro, one of the released Bolsonaristas who complained of “humiliating” treatment at the prison, told AFP. gym where he was held.

A woman who wanted to remain anonymous gave a different account. “Everyone was treated well, no one died there,” she said.

The Federal Police denied reports that an elderly woman had died on Monday at the headquarters of her academy.

The 1,500 detainees participated in the assault or were in a camp set up two months ago in front of an army headquarters from where they were calling for military intervention against the Lula government.

The invasion and looting of the buildings of the three branches of the Brazilian State last Sunday, which were reminiscent of the episodes at the Capitol in Washington two years ago, caused considerable material damage, in particular to priceless works of art.

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