Rioters storm Brazil’s capital: Take a look at the scenes echoing US Jan. 6 riots
In support of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, rioters in Brazil’s capitol stormed the National Congress building, presidential palace and supreme court on Sunday, Jan. 8, photos show. The scenes of destruction echoed the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Thousands of Bolsonaro’s right-wing supporters gathered in Brasilia to protest against the country’s current leftist president, The Associated Press reported.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva beat the incumbent far-right Bolsonaro to win the presidency in October, Al Jazeera reported. Bolsonaro, however, has not conceded defeat, and his supporters refuse to accept the outcome of the election.
Supporters of Bolsonaro have protested since Lula’s election, but, one week after Lula’s inauguration, protests escalated at the Esplanade of Ministries where Brazil’s three main government buildings — the National Congress, presidential palace and supreme court — are located, AFP reported.
The protesters, many wearing Brazilian flags or similar yellow and green clothing, overwhelmed Brazilian security forces who fired tear gas and stun grenades, AFP reported.
Videos on social media showed a limited presence of capital security and police officers “standing by” as rioters invaded the National Congress building, The Associated Press reported.
Rioters smashed through windows to enter the government building and rampaged inside, photos from AFP show.
President Lula quickly blamed Bolsonaro for encouraging the rioters with “a campaign of baseless allegations about potential election fraud,” Reuters reported.
“These vandals, who we could call ... fanatical fascists, did what has never been done in the history of this country,” Lula said in a news conference translated by Reuters. “All these people who did this will be found and they will be punished.”
Lula also said there was “incompetence or bad faith” on the part of the police, according to a translation from The Associated Press.
Inside, the governmental buildings were largely empty for the weekend, AFP reported. Rioters entered the presidential palace, or Planalto Palace, by smashing through the windows, overturning chairs as they spread throughout the building, photos show.
Bolsonaro, who fled to Florida days before his term ended, remained silent for nearly six hours as the chaos unfolded in the capital, Al Jazeera reported.
The former president eventually responded on Twitter, denying Lula’s accusations.
Bolsonaro also said peaceful protest is part of the democratic protest but “depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule,” according to a translation from the Independent. The outlet noted that Bolsonaro made no “specific mention” to the rioters in Brasilia.
Another photo shows overturned couches and debris scattered as rioters stand on a raised stage. Pieces of the ceiling hang down and, in the background, graffiti messages are seen sprayed on the windows.
No injuries or deaths have been reported, according to Reuters.
The riots lasted just over three hours, Al Jazeera reported. Police in riot gear entered the governmental buildings and forced rioters out. A photo taken through a smashed window showed police about to enter the presidential palace.
Supporters of Bolsonaro also ransacked offices at the palace, photos show. The rioters also flooded parts of Congress with a sprinkler, Reuters reported.
At the supreme court, rioters overturned the table where justices sit, punctured a “priceless” painting five times and tore a door off one justice’s office, the Independent reported.
The riots have been met with a swift military crackdown, the Independent reported. As many as 1,200 people have been detained in connection with the incident, the outlet reported.
The riots at Brazil’s capital — which Reuters described as “the worst attack on state institutions since the country’s return to democracy in the 1980s” — echoed scenes at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed Congress and left a similar trail of destruction.
This story was originally published January 9, 2023 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Rioters storm Brazil’s capital: Take a look at the scenes echoing US Jan. 6 riots."
