Reports reaching the desk of the Africa Today News, New York has it that many supporters of Brazilian far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro who have evidently refused to accept his electoral defeat have stormed the presidential palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court in the capital, Brasilia.
A number of videos which has now found its way to social media showed Bolsonaro supporters smashing windows and furniture in the National Congress and Supreme Court buildings on Sunday. They climbed onto the roof of the Congress building, where Brazil’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies conduct their legislative business, unfurling a banner that read “intervention” and an apparent appeal to Brazil’s military.
Images on TV channel Globo News which was monitored by Africa Today News, New York also showed protesters roaming the presidential palace, many of them wearing green and yellow – the colours of the Brazilian flag, which have also come to symbolise the Bolsonaro government.
One social media video showed a crowd outside pulling a policeman from his horse and beating him to the ground.
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Security forces used tear gas in an effort to push back the demonstrators with local media estimating about 3,000 people were involved in the incident.
The siege, which lasted a little over three hours, comes just a week after the inauguration of Bolsonaro’s leftist rival, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Responding to the invasion, Lula declared a federal security intervention in Brasilia that will remain in place until the end of the month.
In a press conference, he blamed Bolsonaro and complained about a lack of security in the capital, saying authorities had allowed ‘fascists’ and ‘fanatics’ to wreak havoc.
‘These vandals, who we could call fanatical Nazis, fanatical Stalinists … fanatical fascists, did what has never been done in the history of this country,’ said Lula, who was on an official trip to Sao Paulo state. “All these people who did this will be found and they will be punished.”
Bolsonaro, who has yet to concede defeat in the October 30 vote and is currently in the US state of Florida, has peddled the false claim that Brazil’s electronic voting system was prone to fraud, helping to fuel protests against Lula’s win.
Supporters have blocked roads, set vehicles on fire, and gathered outside military buildings calling on the armed forces to intervene.