Brazil Is Having Its Own Jan. 6 Right Now

BRAZIL-POLITICS-BOLSONARO-SUPPORTERS-DEMONSTRATION - Credit: AFP via Getty Images

BRAZIL-POLITICS-BOLSONARO-SUPPORTERS-DEMONSTRATION – Credit: AFP via Getty Images

Images are eerily evocative of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol came out of Brazil as thousands of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in the capital of Brasilia on Sunday. According to The New York Timesprotesters breached Brazil’s Congress, presidential offices, and Supreme Court believing Bolsonaro’s baseless claims that the recent presidential election was stolen from him.

Hours later, authorities reported that the military police had regained control of Brasilia’s Three Powers Square, where the Presidential Palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court were located. Police used tear gas to disperse rioters who had assembled at the Justice Ministry, per The Times. At least 200 people were arrested. At least eight journalists were attacked or torn while covering the incident, according to the Union of Professional Journalists of the Federal District.

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President Joe Biden condemned the attacks as an “assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil” in a statement issued Sunday evening. “Brazil’s democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined,” he said. “I look forward to continuing to work with” current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Biden has previously said that Lula’s election was “free, fair, and credible.”

Much like former US President Donald Trump, the right-wing populist Bolsonaro has been claimed for years that his country’s elections are riddled with fraud, claims many election officials, election security experts and fact-checkers have adamantly refuted. Bolsonaro has even alleged that detractors attempted and failed to steal the election from him in 2018. For months since Bolsonaro’s defeat by Lula on Nov. 1, his supporters have been calling for a coup. Trump allies Steve Bannon and Jason Miller have reportedly been advising Bolsonaro since his defeat, and his son, Brazilian congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, has reportedly met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Similar to the US insurrection, videos show protestors overwhelming police barricades and breaking glass to enter Congress. Unlike the US insurrection, however, Congress was not heavily occupied by lawmakers or their staff ahead of the attack, as it was not in session. Lula was in São Paulo when the event began, although officials were working in the presidential palace, CNN Brasil reported.

Lula signed an emergency decree that would let the federal government use “any means necessary” to restore order, and also ordered the closure of the center of the capital for 24 hours, as BBC reports.

“They took advantage of the silence on Sunday, when we are still setting up the government, to do what they did,” Lula tweeted, translated from Portuguese. “And you know that there are several speeches by the former president encouraging this. And this is also his responsibility and the parties that supported him.” Lula surveyed the damage around 10 pm on Sunday local time, alongside some of his top ministers.

Bolsonaro denies responsibility for the incident, writing on Twitter that the accusation was “without evidenceand also wrote, translated from Portuguese, “Peaceful demonstrations, in the form of the law, are part of democracy. However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule.”

Earlier in the day, one livestreaming protester said, “This is a historic moment,” per the Timescalling the event “the invasion — the invasion, no, the occupation — of the national Congress.”

“Give a like and subscribe to my channel, guys,” the streamer added.

Bolsonaro has refused to consider the election. Two days before his term ended and Lula became president, Bolsonaro delivered a video message to supporters and then left the country for Florida, skipping the traditional presidential inauguration and handover of power last Sunday. According to Reuters, Bolsonaro may have fled Brazil in part because once Lula became president, Bolsonaro’s presidential immunity would come to an end.

As protesters stormed government buildings, the president of Brazil’s Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, issued a statement saying he was in contact with Brasília’s governor who told him the entire state’s police force was being deployed “to control the situation,” the Times reported. “I’m vehemently against these anti-democratic actions which should be punished according to the law urgently,” Pacheco said. Another Brazilian senator, Jean Paul Prates, called the protesters “terrorists.”

This breaking news story has been updated.

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