Brazil: Supporters of Brazil’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday invaded the country’s Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court, in a grim echo of the US Capitol invasion two years ago by fans of former President Donald Trump.
Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in the most fraught election in a generation last year, announced a federal security intervention in Brasilia lasting until Jan. 31. He blamed Bolsonaro for the invasion, and complained about a lack of security in the capital, saying it had let “fascists” and “fanatics” wreak havoc.
All of the rioters will be identified and punished, Lula said, while pledging to root out the financiers of the movement. Lula was far from the capital, on an official trip to Sao Paulo state.
The sight of thousands of yellow-and-green clad protesters running riot in the capital capped months of tension following the Oct. 30 vote. Bolsonaro, an acolyte of Trump’s who has yet to concede defeat, peddled the false claim that Brazil’s electronic voting system was prone to fraud, spawning a violent movement of election deniers.
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