Brazil: Serious riots! Bolsonaro supporters storm several buildings

A photographer from the AFP news agency saw police use tear gas to push back hundreds of protesters. The incident came a week after the inauguration of new left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Several videos on Twitter show how people stormed the congress building a little later. Meanwhile, they also entered the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court.

Bolsonaro supporters overcome barriers

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.

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.

Lula calls attackers ‘fascist vandals’

Brazil’s President Lula strongly condemned the attack by Bolsonaro supporters. The left-wing head of state, who was in the south-eastern city of Araraquara on Sunday, spoke of an attack by “fascist vandals”. Lula signed a decree giving federal authorities special powers to restore security in Brasília.

of Brazil ruling party throws federal district Fail Before

The head of the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) also spoke up and raised serious allegations against those responsible in the capital Brasília. “The federal district government was irresponsible in the face of the invasion of Brasília and the National Congress,” Gleisi Hoffmann wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “It was an announced crime against democracy, against the will of the voters and for other interests. The governor and his secretary of security, a Bolsonaro supporter, are responsible for everything that happens.”

Security chief fired after storming Congress

As a first reaction, the security chief of the capital Brasília, Anderson Torres, was fired as a result of the attack. “I have decided to dismiss the Minister of Security of the Federal District and at the same time sent all security forces into the streets to arrest and punish those responsible,” Federal District Governor Ibaneis Rocha wrote on Twitter. “I am in Brasília to observe the demonstrations and take all measures to curb the anti-democracy riots in the government district.”