Brasilia woke up this Monday with public order under control, but with traces of destruction in various areas of the center of power in the Brazilian capital, after the violent assault on Sunday by thousands of Bolsonaristas against the seats of power.
The emblematic buildings of the Brazilian capital (Presidency, Congress and Supreme Court) were taken on Sunday for almost four hours by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who demanded a military intervention to remove Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who assumed the presidency a week ago.
“The situation in Brasilia is under control,” said the federal controller in the Federal District, Ricardo Cappelli, who will be responsible for security in the Brazilian capital at least until January 31, in a message on his social networks.
Capelli, a senior Justice Ministry official, assumed command of all of Brasilia’s security forces after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ordered a federal intervention in the Federal District to deal with the attack on institutions of the followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Capelli stated that the Brasilia police forces, now under his command, restarted operations early in the morning to identify those responsible for the acts of vandalism. in the offices of the Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court.
“We are already in the field again. The criminals will continue to be identified and punished. We will not allow the continuity of concentrations that function as incubators of plans against the Democratic State of Law,” said the controller.
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Some roads and highways in Brazil woke up blocked, but the authorities confirmed in the afternoon that they had managed to lift the blockades. According to the latest Highway Police bulletin, traffic was released on several roads such as the one in the municipality of Novo Progreso, in the Amazonian state of Pará (north), and the one in Matupá, a city in the state of Mato Grosso (center). ).
Since Sunday night, followers of the now former president Jair Bolsonaro blocked highways in the states of Paraná, Mato Grosso, Sao Paulo, Pará, Minas Gerais, and Santa Catarina, after the authorities withdrew the attackers who left the headquarters of the three powers.
The day before, several radical Bolsonarists also tried to block the distribution of fuel in the state of Paraná, in the south of the country, at the refinery owned by the state oil company Petrobras in the municipality of Araucária.
(You can read: Bolsonaro tepidly rejects a coup attempt by his followers)
Bolsonarista camps dismantled
To return to calm, the Brazilian authorities launched investigations since Sunday night to find those responsible for the riots and their possible financiers.
One of the first actions of the Police this Monday was the clearing of the camp that the Bolsonaristas had set up since the presidential elections in October. in front of the Army headquarters to press for a military coup that would prevent Lula’s return to power and from which the attacks on Sunday were launched.
Agents of the Brasilia Military Police, reinforced by Army troops, blocked the access to the camp early in the morning to prevent the arrival of more protesters and ordered the peaceful eviction of those who remained in the place.
The siege quickly took effect and, without the need for the authorities to use force, the hundreds of followers of radical Bolsonaristas who were camped out in front of the Army began to collect their belongings.
(You can read: Bolsonarists stole firearms from the Brazilian Presidency)
At least 1,200 Bolsonaristas were detained in the camp. According to the Ministry of Justice, the detained Bolsonaro members were taken in at least 40 buses to the Federal Police headquarters, where they will be identified to try to establish whether they participated in the violent attacks on Sunday and filed in case evidence against them emerges in the future. .
Only those who are identified as participating in the acts of vandalism and those who have any evidence against them will remain arrested. The prisoners will join the nearly 300 people who were arrested on Sunday for their responsibility in the attacks.
The eviction was peaceful and occurred after Magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, one of the eleven members of the Supreme Court, ordered the dismantling of all the camps set up by Bolsonaristas in front of the country’s military barracks and from which they defended a coup. State in Brazil against Lula.
Moraes, responsible for several of the investigations against Bolsonaro and his followers for attacks on democracy, ordered that the occupants of the camps “be detained in flagrante for the practice of different crimes.”
The camp of the radicals in Brasilia, set up more than 70 days ago, since Lula prevailed in the second round of the presidential elections, served as the base for the protesters who invaded the headquarters of the three powers of
Brazil and was the place they returned to after their failed attempt to force a coup.
The number of radicals in the camp in front of the Army headquarters had been falling since Lula’s inauguration, on January 1, and on Thursday the authorities counted some 200 people, but on Saturday it jumped to about 3,000 after the Bolsonaristas called the demonstration on Sunday.
(Keep reading: On video: police officer and his horse are attacked by Bolsonarist protesters)
Investigations against those responsible for the attack
Lula’s government, for its part, dedicated itself this Monday to retaking the reins of power in Brasilia. The president met with the heads of the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Supreme Court and issued a joint statement in which they rejected the “terrorist, vandal, criminal and coup acts.”
Those responsible met at the Planalto Palace, where Lula resumed his activities despite the fact that the property was one of the vandalized sites.
(Also: Crisis in Brazil: Bolsonaristas, increasingly similar to Trump supporters?)
And it is that in the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, which separates the Presidential Palace from Planalto, the seat of Congress and the seat of the Federal Supreme Court, the scene was of destruction, with pieces of the floor removed, twisted iron, garbage scattered everywhere and even tear gas capsules.
The incidents on Sunday left facades marked with graffiti and broken glass, doors and windows damaged, and some offices vandalized. In Planalto, protesters tore up stones from the ground to use as ammunition against the police.
Fire hoses, chairs and other furniture were thrown out in the open, along with the remains of projectiles and tear gas used by the riot group.
Security flaws
State authorities are now concentrating on answering questions about the lack of preparation, inexperience and even about possible complicity of the security forces during the attack.
The media indicated this Monday that there were several signs that preceded the events. On Saturday night, for example, a hundred buses with some 4,000 Bolsonaro supporters arrived in the capital and joined the camp located in front of the Army.
The Minister of Justice, Flavio Dino, then authorized the deployment of agents of the National Public Security Force, but this did not prevent the protesters from traveling 8 km from their camp to the Plaza de los Tres poderes without being stopped by the Police.
Long before the arrival of the buses, in addition, publications on social networks alluded to the concentration in Brasilia. “All expenses paid. Water, breakfast, lunch and dinner. And they will camp in Planalto,” said a group of Bolsonaro supporters on Telegram.
In its editorial this Monday, the influential newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo highlighted “the surprising ease with which vandals invaded places of power in Brasilia, in the worst attack against Brazilian democracy since the end of the military dictatorship (1964). -1985)”.
There was no need for security, there were policemen. They needed to act
In fact, Videos show agents filming the invasion on their phones instead of intervening. “There was no need for security, there were policemen. It was necessary for them to act, so as not to let them do what they did”, said a citizen of Brasilia.
Doubts were also raised about the intelligence services. Minutes before the invasion, a security official in Brasilia sent a message to the governor of the federal district, Ibaneis Rocha, stating that it was a peaceful demonstration and that the demonstrators were being escorted by the police.
Lula also questioned the late and unprepared response of law enforcement and blamed the “speeches” of Bolsonaro, of whom it was learned this Monday that he was admitted to a US medical center for abdominal pain, for having “stimulated ” to the “fascist hooligans”.
This Monday, Democratic legislators pressured US President Joe Biden to expel Jair Bolsonaro from the country.
Thousands of people gathered in the main cities of the country to repudiate the attacks and to demand an exemplary punishment.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from agencies
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