Updated: 9.50pm
Supporters of Brazil's far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday invaded the country's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court in Brasília, in a grim echo of the US Capitol invasion almost exactly two years ago by fans of former US president Donald Trump.
The sight of thousands of yellow-and-green clad protestors wreaking havoc in the capital capped months of tension following the most fraught election for a generation.
Condemning the crowds' actions, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared a federal security intervention in Brasília, labelling the rioters "fascists, fanatics" and said they would be punished "with the full force of law".
The federal intervention in Brasília will last until January 31st, he added in a speech.
Bolsonaro, who lost the October 30th vote to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, peddled the false claim that Brazil's electronic voting system was prone to fraud, spawning a violent movement of election deniers.
The invasion poses an immediate problem for Lula, who was only inaugurated on January 1st and has pledged to unite a nation torn by Bolsonaro's nationalist populism.
Television images showed protesters breaking into the Supreme Court and Congress, smashing furniture. Local media estimated about 3,000 people were involved.
Lula was far from the capital, on an official trip to São Paulo state. Bolsonaro, who has barely spoken in public since losing the election, left Brazil for Florida 48 hours before the end of his mandate and was absent from Lula's inauguration.
Bolsonaro supporters attacking federal buildings in Brasilia. National Congress and the Planalto Palace, the seat of executive power, both broken into. Images of shattered windows and ransacked workspaces, all painfully reminiscent of Jan. 6. pic.twitter.com/esvFYE0HcC
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) January 8, 2023
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The violent scenes in Brasília could amplify the legal risks to Bolsonaro, who has so far not commented on the invasions. The Bolsonaro family lawyer, Frederick Wassef, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Brazilian Supreme Court was ransacked by the occupiers, according to social media images that showed protesters shattering the windows of the modernist building.
A policeman on horseback was surrounded by shouting demonstrators armed with sticks who knocked him off his mount.
Lula's Workers Party asked the office of the nation's top public prosecutor to order public security forces to act in containing the demonstrators.
Brasília governor's Ibaneis Rocha told Reuters that all security forces had been deployed to confront the rioters.
Many of the protesters who have camped out in Brasília dispute the result of the election.
On Saturday, with rumours of a confrontation brewing, Brazil's justice minister Flávio Dino authorised the deployment of the National Public Security Force. On Sunday, he wrote on Twitter, "this absurd attempt to impose the will by force will not prevail."
Latin American leaders were quick to condemn the scenes.
Brazilian supreme court also breached. pic.twitter.com/iThBbWhhBH
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) January 8, 2023
"All my solidarity with Lula and the people of Brazil," Colombian president Gustavo Petro tweeted. "Fascism decides to conduct a coup."
Chilean president Gabriel Boric said Lula's government has his full support "in the face of this cowardly and vile attack on democracy".
In Washington in 2021, Trump supporters attacked police, broke through barricades and stormed the US Capitol in a failed effort to prevent congressional certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
Trump, who has announced a third bid for the presidency, in 2024, had pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, not to certify the vote, and he continues to claim falsely that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread fraud.
In the US, National Security advisor Jake Sullivan said the country condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil, tweeting: "President Biden is following the situation closely and our support for Brazil's democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazil's democracy will not be shaken by violence."
In an update on the scenes in Brasília, Brazil's solicitor general office released a statement to confirm it has requested the arrest of the capital's public security secretary, Anderson Torres.
Reports added that the effected state buildings have since been reclaimed by security forces. -Reuters
