Brazilian security forces cleared protest camps Monday and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned “acts of terrorism” after a far-right mob stormed the seat of power in the capital, in chaotic scenes that triggered global shock.
Hundreds of soldiers and police mobilized to dismantle an improvised camp outside the army’s headquarters in Brasilia where some 3,000 supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro had set up tents — used as a base for the sea of protesters who ran riot inside the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court for around four hours Sunday.
Lula, who took office on January 1 after a bitterly divisive election win over Bolsonaro, meanwhile returned to work in the pillaged presidential palace, where AFP reporters saw the wreckage that remained of the previous day’s havoc: trashed artwork and offices, shattered windows and doors, broken glass strewn across the floor, and puddles of water left by the sprinkler system after rioters set fire to a rug.
ula, the 77-year-old veteran leftist who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, joined the leaders of both houses of Congress and the chief justice of the Supreme Court in condemning what many called the South American country’s version of the Capitol riots in Washington two years ago.
“The three powers of the republic, the defenders of democracy and the constitution, reject the terrorist acts and criminal, coup-mongering vandalism that occurred,” they said in a joint statement.
Large contingents of riot police meanwhile deployed to lock down the capital’s Three Powers Square, home to the iconic modernist buildings that serve as the headquarters of the three branches of government.
Around 1,500 people were arrested at the pro-Bolsonaro protest camp, officials said. Many Brasilia residents were still in shock as they returned to their normal workday routines.
Source: eNCA
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