Thousands of supporters of Brazil’s ousted former president, Jair Bolsonaro, stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential workplaces on Sunday to protest what they falsely declare was a stolen election, the violent fruits of years of conspiracy theories superior by Mr. Bolsonaro and his right-wing allies.
In scenes reminiscent of the Jan. 6 storming of the United States Capitol, protesters in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, draped within the yellow and inexperienced of Brazil’s flag surged into the seat of energy, setting fires, repurposing barricades as weapons, knocking cops from horseback and filming their crimes as they dedicated them.
“We always said we would not give up,” one protester declared as he filmed himself amongst lots of of protesters pushing into the Capitol constructing. “Congress is ours. We are in power.”
For months, protesters had been demanding that the navy forestall the newly elected president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from taking workplace on Jan. 1. Many on the proper in Brazil have grow to be satisfied, regardless of the shortage of proof, that October’s election was rigged.
For years, Mr. Bolsonaro had asserted, with none proof, that Brazil’s election methods have been rife with fraud and that the nation’s elites have been conspiring to take away him from energy.
Mr. Lula mentioned Sunday that these false claims had fueled the assault on the plaza, often known as Three Powers Square as a result of of the presence of the three branches of authorities. Mr. Bolsonaro “triggered this,” he mentioned in an deal with to the nation. “He spurred attacks on the three powers whenever he could. This is also his responsibility.”
Late Sunday, Mr. Bolsonaro criticized the protests, saying on Twitter that peaceable demonstrations are half of democracy, however that “destruction and invasions of public buildings, like what occurred today,” will not be. But he additionally rejected Mr. Lula’s accusations, saying they have been “without proof.”
At his inauguration, Mr. Lula mentioned that uniting Brazil, Latin America’s largest nation and one of the world’s largest democracies, can be a central aim of his administration. The invasion of the capital means that the nation’s divisions are extra profound than many had imagined, and it saddles the brand new president with a significant problem only one week into his administration.
After Mr. Lula was inaugurated, protesters put out calls on-line for others to hitch them for a large demonstration on Sunday. It shortly turned violent.
Hundreds of protesters ascended a ramp to the roof of the congressional constructing in Brasília, the capital, whereas a smaller group invaded the constructing from a decrease degree, in keeping with witnesses and movies of the scene posted on social media. Other teams of protesters splintered off and broke into the presidential workplaces and the Supreme Court, that are in the identical plaza.
The scene was chaotic.
Protesters streamed into the federal government buildings, which have been largely empty on a Sunday, breaking home windows, overturning furnishings and looting objects inside, in keeping with movies they posted on-line.
The crowds shouted that they have been taking their nation again, and that they’d not be stopped. Outnumbered, the police fired what seemed to be rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear-gas canisters, together with from two helicopters overhead.
“Police are cowardly trying to expel the people from Congress, but there is no way, because even more are arriving,” mentioned one protester in a video filmed from inside Congress and displaying lots of of protesters on a number of flooring. “No one is taking our country, damn it.”
Eventually Brazilian Army troopers helped retake management of some buildings.
Mr. Lula, who was not in Brasília throughout the invasion, issued an emergency decree till Jan. 31 that enables the federal authorities to take “any measures necessary” to revive order within the capital. “There is no precedent for what these people have done, and for that, these people must be punished,” he mentioned.
The president, who arrived within the capital late within the day to examine the injury, mentioned that his authorities would additionally examine anybody who might have financed the protests.
Mr. Bolsonaro seemed to be in Florida. He flew to Orlando within the remaining days of his presidency, in hopes that his absence from the nation would assist cool off investigations into his exercise as president, in keeping with a good friend of the president’s who spoke on the situation of anonymity to explain non-public conversations. He deliberate to remain in Florida for one to a few months, this particular person mentioned.
Mr. Bolsonaro has by no means unequivocally conceded defeat within the election, leaving it to his aides to deal with the transition of energy and skipping the inauguration, the place he was imagined to go the presidential sash to Mr. Lula, an necessary image of the transition of energy for a rustic that lived below a 21-year navy dictatorship till 1985.
After the election, he mentioned he supported peaceable protests impressed by “feelings of injustice in the electoral process.”
But earlier than departing for Florida, Mr. Bolsonaro instructed to his supporters that they transfer on. “We live in a democracy or we don’t,” he mentioned in a recorded assertion. “No one wants an adventure.”
His calls have been ignored.
The subsequent day, 1000’s of his supporters remained camped outdoors the Army headquarters in Brasília, with many satisfied that the navy and Mr. Bolsonaro have been about to execute a secret plan to stop Mr. Lula’s inauguration.
“The army will step in,” Magno Rodrigues, 60, a former mechanic and janitor, mentioned in an interview on Dec. 31, the day earlier than Mr. Lula took workplace. He had been camped outdoors the military’s headquarters for 9 weeks and mentioned he was ready to remain “for the rest of my life if I have to.”
One of Mr. Lula’s central challenges as president can be to unify the nation after a bitter election wherein some of his supporters framed Mr. Bolsonaro as genocidal and cannibalistic, whereas Mr. Bolsonaro repeatedly referred to as Mr. Lula a legal. (Mr. Lula served 19 months in jail on corruption fees that have been later thrown out.)
Surveys have proven {that a} sizable chunk of the inhabitants say they imagine Mr. Lula stole the election, fueled by false claims which have unfold throughout the web and a shift amongst many right-wing voters away from conventional sources of news — issues which have additionally plagued American politics lately.
President Biden, who was visiting the southern U.S. border, referred to as the protests “outrageous,” and Jake Sullivan, his nationwide safety adviser, mentioned the United States “condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil.”
“Our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering,” Mr. Sullivan wrote on Twitter. “Brazil’s democracy will not be shaken by violence.”
Some far-right provocateurs within the United States nevertheless, cheered on the assaults, posting movies of the riots and calling the protesters “patriots” who have been attempting to uphold the Brazilian Constitution. Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald J. Trump, referred to as the protesters “Brazilian Freedom Fighters” in a social-media submit. Mr. Bannon has had shut ties with one of Mr. Bolsonaro’s sons.
At first, the rioters had a comparatively simple time breaching the buildings. State cops tried to carry them again, however they have been far outnumbered. The demonstrations had been marketed broadly on social media for days.
“It was scary, it was insanity,” mentioned Adriana Reis, 30, a cleaner at Congress who witnessed the scene. “They tried hard, with pepper spray, to drive them off, but I don’t think the police could handle them all.” After protesters streamed in, “we ran away to hide,” she mentioned.
Videos from inside Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential workplaces shortly stuffed social-media feeds and group chats, displaying protesters carrying their nationwide flag and trudging by way of the halls of energy, not precisely positive what to do subsequent.
They sat within the padded chairs of the Chamber of Deputies, rifled by way of paperwork within the presidential workplaces and posed with a golden coat of arms that seemed to be ripped from the wall of the Supreme Court’s chambers. Federal officers later distributed pictures and movies from the presidential workplaces that confirmed destroyed computer systems, artwork ripped from frames and firearm instances that had been emptied of their weapons.
The protesters have been ransacking buildings which were hailed as gems of Modernist architecture. Designed by the celebrated Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer within the Fifties, the Supreme Court, as an example, options columns of concrete clad in white marble that echo the fluttering of a sheet in the wind. And Congress is understood for being capped with each a dome, below which the Senate is situated, and a form of bowl, below which the House is situated.
Outside the presidential workplaces, they raised the flag of the Brazilian Empire, a interval within the nineteenth century earlier than Brazil grew to become a democracy, they usually sang Brazil’s nationwide anthem. Videos of the rampage confirmed many protesters with telephones aloft, filming the scene.
“There is no way to stop the people,” one protester declared as he live-streamed lots of of protesters charging onto the roof of Congress. “Subscribe to my channel, guys.”
Several news shops mentioned their journalists have been attacked and robbed throughout the rioting. And Ricardo Stuckert, Mr. Lula’s official photographer, had his passport and greater than $95,000 price of gear stolen from a room within the presidential workplaces, in keeping with his spouse, Cristina Lino.
By late afternoon, navy vehicles had arrived.
Armed troopers entered the presidential workplaces by way of a again door to ambush rioters inside. Shortly after, protesters started to stream out of the constructing, together with some escorted by regulation enforcement officers.
By 9 p.m., greater than seven hours after the invasions started, Brazil’s justice minister, Flávio Dino, mentioned the buildings had been cleared. He mentioned officers had arrested at the least 200 individuals. The governor of Brasília mentioned the quantity of arrests had exceeded 400.
Valdemar Costa Neto, the pinnacle of Mr. Bolsonaro’s right-wing Liberal Party, criticized the protesters.
“Today is a sad day for the Brazilian nation,” he mentioned in a press release. “All orderly demonstrations are legitimate. Disorder has never been part of our nation’s principles.”
The Brazilian flag draped round many of the rioters on Sunday contains three phrases: “Order and progress.”
Reporting was contributed by Ana Ionova, Yan Boechat, Leonardo Coelho, Laís Martins and Gustavo Freitas.