Brazilian democracy resists Bolsonarism's coup attack
Brazilian democracy resisted this Sunday to the attack of thousands of bolsonaristas who took by force, for about four hours, the headquarters of the Government, the Parliament and the Supreme Court, in the biggest aggression to the republican powers seen since the coup d'état of 1964.
Seven days after the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the extremists violently broke into the palaces, destroying everything in their path, while the head of state was traveling in the city of Araraquara, in the state of Sao Paulo.
The furniture of the palaces was smashed and thrown out of the windows into the street, although the authorities have not yet been able to make an assessment of the extensive damage caused by the mob.
After the violent attack, officials found torn canvas paintings, computers, printers and televisions damaged on the floor of the offices, according to videos recorded by the Minister of Social Communication, Paulo Pimenta.
The mob did not manage to enter Lula's office at the Planalto Palace because the police arrived at that moment, official sources told EFE.
The radicals do not recognize the result of the elections of last October 30, in which Lula defeated the now former president Jair Bolsonaro by a narrow margin of less than two percentage points.
This Sunday, perched on the ramp of the National Congress, the extremists chanted slogans calling for the intervention of the Armed Forces, but the military did not respond to the call and their commanders remained strictly silent.
According to preliminary information, so far at least 300 people have been arrested, although the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, said that there will be more arrests in the coming hours for the "terrorist acts".
The attacks against the institutions were unanimously condemned by all sectors in Brazil and also by the governments of Latin America, the United States and Europe.
Sunday's protests were called by pro-Bolsonar groups that have been camped in front of the Army Headquarters in Brasilia since the day after the elections.
In more than two months of rallies, the radicals have staged several violent events, including an attack on a police headquarters and a foiled attempt to plant an explosive near the Brasilia airport two weeks ago.
This Sunday, thousands of radicals traveled by bus from other parts of the country to join the rallies encouraging a coup d'état.
The demonstrators, dressed in Brazilian flags and T-shirts with the green and yellow colors, headed to downtown Brasilia in mid-afternoon and passed without inconvenience through a small police fence set up on the Esplanade of the Ministries.
They went to the National Congress and then to the Supreme Court and the Planalto presidential palace, all of them located around the Three Powers Square.
Faced with the inaction of the capital's police, they broke the windows of the palace buildings, considered a World Heritage Site, and invaded them, causing damage to their interiors.
Lula reacted by ordering the intervention of the security agencies of the Federal District, the region where Brasilia is located, and deploying federal forces to help expel the coup plotters from the institutions.
The anti-riot agents, using tear gas and sound bombs, took control of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial headquarters some four and a half hours after the beginning of the attack, which occurred two years and two days after the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by ultra-right-wingers with whom Bolsonarism is aligned.
In a statement from Araraquara, where he was traveling, Lula affirmed that there was "incompetence" and "bad faith" on the part of those responsible for security in Brasilia, who depend on the administration of Governor Ibaneis Rocha, an ally of Bolsonaro.
The president blamed the situation on Bolsonaro's speeches "stimulating" coup demonstrations and assured that the "fascists" will be brought to justice, as well as the sponsors of the attack.
Shortly before Lula's announcement, Brasília's Security Secretary, Anderson Torres, who was Minister of Justice in Bolsonaro's government, was removed from his post.
The episode experienced this Sunday in Brasília was reminiscent of the invasion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 by supporters of former President Donald Trump, who has a friendly relationship with Bolsonaro, although the Brazilian attack was on an even larger scale.
The former Brazilian president, an admirer of Trump, is currently in Orlando, United States, where he traveled two days before Lula's inauguration without a return ticket.
On social networks, Bolsonaro tepidly rejected the events in Brasília, stating that peaceful demonstrations "are part of democracy", but "vandalism and invasions of public buildings", on the other hand, "escape the norm".
A judge of the Brazilian Supreme Court removed the governor of the Federal District of Brasilia, Ibaneis Rocha, from his post for 90 days, following Sunday's assault by thousands of bolsonarista radicals on the headquarters of the three branches of government in an attempt to overthrow President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The decision was made by Magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, who also ordered the State security forces to act to free any type of road or public building occupied by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro throughout the country.
The judge, who granted a request from Lula's allies, indicated that "the violent escalation" against the headquarters of the three branches of government "could only occur with the consent, and even the effective participation," of the competent authorities for public security and intelligence.
He also stressed that the organization of these coup acts was a "notorious and known fact, which was disclosed by the Brazilian press".
In this way, De Moraes pointed directly to Rocha, who hours before had apologized to President Lula and to the leadership of the Legislative and Judicial powers for the serious events that took place on Sunday afternoon in the Brazilian capital.
Rocha had also dismissed his Security Secretary, Anderson Torres, who was Minister of Justice in the last two years of Bolsonaro's government (2019-2022) and is a figure very close to the now ex-governor.