Hundreds of followers of former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded this Sunday the headquarters of the National Congress, the Planalto Palace and the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil in a demonstration calling for a military intervention to overthrow President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The group, which defends coup theses, overcame a police barrier and climbed the ramp that gives access to the roof of the buildings of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and some entered inside the legislative headquarters, points out a report from efe.
NOW ?
Coup protesters broke the blockade, entered into a confrontation with the police on the Esplanada and on the ramp of Congress. pic.twitter.com/Wfxe7MNSRP— O POVO (@opovo) January 8, 2023
The extremists, mostly wearing yellow and green shirts and Brazilian flags, also attacked some vehicles of the Legislative Police, which provides security for Congress.
The attackers destroyed protection barriers and, armed with sticks, confronted the agents who unsuccessfully tried to stop the protesters from entering.
Lula, who assumed the Presidency of Brazil on January 1, is traveling this weekend in the city of Araraquara, in Sao Paulo.
Hundreds of radical Bolsonaro supporters have been camped out in front of the Army Headquarters in Brasilia since the day after the elections on October 30, in which Lula defeated Bolsonaro.
The camps of the radical Bolsonaristas, which have multiplied in cities throughout the country, began to be dismantled on Friday in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, where some disturbances occurred.
On Saturday, the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, authorized the action of the National Security Force, an elite group of police forces from all over the country, which is mobilized for special missions.
Since Lula’s victory in the second round of elections on October 30, with 50.9% of the valid votes compared to 49.1% for Bolsonaro, the president’s supporters have concentrated outside the Army barracks.
Bolsonaro flies to the United States hours before Lula’s inauguration
Before the invasion of Congress, Dino spoke on social networks and said that opponents will have to wait until 2026, when the next presidential elections are held, just as the current government waited between 2018 and 2022.
In a statement, Dino said that the Ministry of Justice called an emergency meeting with security agencies to deal with the demonstrations.
With information from Efe.
