Brazil’s Bolsonaro supporters march into Congress in a nod to January 6th
Thousands of supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro broke through security barriers in the Brasilia capital on Sunday and invaded Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace to protest his election loss.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was not at the palace. Police used pepper spray to unsuccessfully control protesters earlier Sunday. Security forces were able to clear the Supreme Court of rioters who had burst into the building.
The protesters were still inside the Congress building as of Sunday afternoon.
Television images showed thousands of protesters, draped in Brazilian flags and wearing the yellow national jersey, pouring into Congress and other branches of government in an event similar to the Jan. 6, 2021 invasion of the US Capitol. Security forces appeared to have lost control of the main square in Brasilia, the center of government. Some rioters smashed windows and committed other acts of vandalism, while others took videos and selfies.
“I vehemently reject these anti-democratic acts that urgently need to be subjected to the rigors of the law,” Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco said on Twitter.
Sunday’s unrest follows months of protests by Bolsonaro supporters outside military installations demanding intervention to prevent Lula’s return to power. At the end of December there was a bomb alert near Brasilia airport. More than a hundred buses carrying Bolsonaro supporters arrived in Brasilia ahead of Sunday’s protests.
Justice Minister Flavio Dino said security forces are working to bring the situation under control and the Federal District will send reinforcements. Gleisi Hoffmann, leader of the ruling Labor Party, criticized the authorities in the capital for failing to prevent civil unrest.
Bolsonaro himself never fully accepted his defeat in October’s election, vacationing in Orlando, Florida rather than attending Lula’s inauguration.
Christian Lynch, a political scientist at Rio de Janeiro State University, said Sunday’s events will do irreversible damage to Bolsonaro’s movement and that the response from all branches of government will be swift and unforgiving.
“It will destroy the legitimacy of the far right,” he said. “The system will end all tolerance for these people.”
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