Thread: Lula may clinch Brazil election on Sunday

As if,......

asking for the military to intervene

That’s not going to happen.

Bolsonaro supporters storm Congress in Brazil's capital

Supporters of Brazil's former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the National Congress building in the capital of Brasilia on Sunday, climbing onto the roof and smashing parts of its glass structure, AP reported.

Why it matters: The incidents — which seemed to echo the events of Jan. 6, 2021 in the U.S. — came just a week after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn into office.

State of play: Protesters also entered the Supreme Court and the presidential palace, CNN reported.

• While neither house of Congress was in session, protesters reportedly threatened the few employees present if they tried to block their entry into the building, according to CNN.
• Around 3,000 people took part in the remarkable demonstration according to local media. Broadcast videos showed protesters smashing furniture inside the Congress and Supreme Court buildings, Reuters reported.
• Lula, who was on a trip to Sao Paulo, wasn't in the presidential palace at the time.

What they're saying: "I vehemently repudiate these anti-democratic acts, which must urgently undergo the rigor of the law," Brazil's Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco tweeted.

• "This absurd attempt to impose the will by force will not prevail," Justice Minister Flavio Dino wrote on Twitter. "The Government of the Federal District claims that there will be reinforcements. And the forces at our disposal are at work."

The big picture: While Bolsonaro did not explicitly concede or recognize Lula or his victory in an address following last year's election, two days after the loss he agreed to a transition of power.

• Bolsonaro's supporters were less sanguine about the loss, staging multiple protests and asking for the military to intervene.
• Bolsonaro is currently in the U.S., having flown to Florida ahead of Lula's inauguration.

Bolsonaro supporters storm Brazilian Congress

Axios has update their earlier post above

Brazil police arrest 300 after Bolsonaro supporters storm Congress, other buildings

Supporters of Brazil's right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the National Congress and other government buildings in the capital Brasilia on Sunday in an attack that echoed the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

The latest: President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office less than a week ago and was in São Paulo at the time of the attacks, visited the presidential palace on Wednesday night to survey the damage. He tweeted that those responsible would be identified and punished.

• Authorities said late Sunday they had cleared the Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace offices of rioters, the New York Times reports. At least 300 people had been arrested, police said.

What happened: Footage broadcast by several news outlets earlier Sunday showed protesters climbing onto the Congress building's roof, smashing some of its glass windows and doors, and damaging furniture.

• They also flooded parts of the Congress building with the sprinkler system and damaged furniture in the presidential palace and Supreme Court building, per Reuters.
• While Congress was not in session, protesters reportedly threatened employees if they tried to block their entry into the building, per CNN.
• About 3,000 people took part in what initially started as a demonstration in Brasilia, according to local media.

What they're saying: "Whoever did this will be found and punished," Lula tweeted Sunday. "Democracy guarantees the right to free expression, but it also requires people to respect institutions."

• "There is no precedent in the history of the country what they did today. For that, they must be punished," he continued.
• "Those people we call fascists, the most abominable thing in politics, invaded the palace and Congress. We think there was a lack of security," he added before sharing a signed decree for federal intervention in the district that will last through the end of the month.
• Lula also placed some blame on Bolsonaro, saying "there are several speeches by the former president encouraging this ... this is also his responsibility and the parties that supported him."

Bolsonaro, who flew to Florida just before Lula's inauguration last week, criticized the attacks in a series of tweets posted several hours after his supporters stormed the buildings.

• He said peaceful protests were a part of democracy, but not the "destruction and invasions of public buildings, like what occurred today."
• He also rejected Lula's assertion he shared responsibility, saying there was "no proof" he encouraged the attacks.

Between the lines: While Bolsonaro did not explicitly concede or recognize Lula or his victory in an address following last year's election, he agreed to a transition of power in a press conference that took place two days after the vote.

• Still, his supporters staged multiple protests and asked for the military to intervene.

The big picture: The attacks were condemned across Brazil and internationally, including in the U.S.

• President Joe Biden called the situation "outrageous" when asked by reporters about it.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted that the U.S. "condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil."

• "Our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazil’s democracy will not be shaken by violence."

Brazil's Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco, meanwhile, tweeted that he "vehemently repudiate[d] these anti-democratic acts, which must urgently undergo the rigor of the law."

State of play: Brasilia Gov. Ibaneis Rocha announced on Twitter that he had fired Anderson Torres, the security secretary of the federal district who had been in charge of ensuring the area's safety. Torres is a Bolsonaro ally who previously served as the former president's minister of justice, per the New York Times.

• At the time of the announcement, Torres was in Florida, according to the BBC and the Brazilian newspaper Estadão.

photos: in the link

___________

Tom Phillips - Supreme Court judge orders immediate removal of Brasília’s governor after today’s mayhem. The attacks “could only have happened with the acquiescence, or even direct involvement, of public security and intelligence authorities,” he writes

https://twitter.com/tomphillipsin/st...02390375649282

Originally Posted by S Landreth

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted that the U.S. "condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil."

Mr. Sullivan added, "This is our job. It's what we do...."

Same as it ever was....??

Fvck off jeff

• Mass arrests reported after protesters storm government offices in Brazil

Authorities in Brazil reported at least 1,200 people detained after protesters broke into government offices in the capital of Brasilia on Sunday, according to The New York Times.

Thousands of former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters invaded the Brazilian Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace Sunday to protest election results from October, when Bolsonaro lost reelection but failed to fully concede to now-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The riots took place one week after Lula’s inauguration on Jan. 1.

Protesters stormed the buildings, with some demanding that the military restore Bolsonaro to power. After the riots, authorities also began to dismantle Bolsonaro’s supporters’ camps that had been set up in the nation’s capital since he lost the election, according to CNN.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has suspended Ibaneis Rocha, the governor of the district that includes Brazil’s capital, for 90 days amid investigations looking into the security breach of government buildings, according to the Times.

Biden and other world leaders condemned the attacks and offered their support to the democratic institutions of Brazil and Lula. After hearing reports that Bolsonaro was in Florida seeking refuge from ongoing investigations, multiple U.S. lawmakers called on authorities to extradite the former president back to his home country.

____________

• Brazil seeks to restore order after pro-Bolsonaro capital riots

Brazilian authorities on Monday detained more than 1,200 people, dismantled a protest camp in the capital and cleared roadblocks set up by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro as they moved to restore order a day after far-right rioters stormed government buildings in Brasília.

State of play: Justice Minister Flávio Dino said that while those who breached the Presidential Palace, Congress and Supreme Court would be punished, so, too, would those who organized and financed what has been described as the darkest day for Brazil's democracy since it was restored in the 1980s.

• President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva placed the capital under federal control and denounced the "fascist vandals" responsible for Sunday's "coup-mongering" and "terrorist acts." He blamed Bolsonaro for inciting the violence and claimed military police “did absolutely nothing" to stop it.
• The 1,200 people detained on Monday were in addition to the roughly 300 arrested on Sunday.

How it happened: The mob that descended on Congress included people who had been camping outside army barracks to demand a military intervention to depose Lula. It also included around 40 busloads of protesters who arrived on Sunday.

• Despite a significant security presence, the mob appeared to meet little resistance as it traveled across the city to Three Powers Plaza, where the National Congress, Supreme Court and Presidential Palace are located.
• Once inside the buildings, protesters vandalized valuable artwork, smashed windows and destroyed furniture.
• While the parallels with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in the U.S. are obvious, Brazil's Congress was out of session at the time and the transfer of power was already complete.

Bolsonaro, who decamped to Florida ahead of Lula's inauguration on Jan. 1 without ever conceding defeat, distanced himself from the riots and denied any responsibility in tweets that came six hours after the incident began.

• His wife said he checked into an Orlando hospital Monday for abdominal pain, from which he has suffered since being stabbed in 2018. A friend told O Globo that Bolsonaro's health situation was not serious.
• Since losing narrowly to Lula in October, the far-right leader has done nothing to calm his supporters throughout weeks of chaotic demonstrations but has "remained at a safe distance," suggesting he may have "learned from Trump's comeuppance," Gustavo Ribeiro, editor-in-chief of the Brazilian Report, tells Axios.

Bolsonaro is believed to have entered the U.S. on an A-1 visa, which is reserved for heads of state, per Reuters. It's unclear how long the former president — who faces several criminal investigations at home — might plan to stay in Florida.

• National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that the Brazilian government had not contacted the Biden administration about Bolsonaro's presence in the U.S., but they would look into it if asked.

• State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that while an individual's visa status is confidential, anyone on an A-1 visa would be required to leave the U.S. or seek another visa status within 30 days of their official business concluding.

Driving the news: Brasília Governor Ibaneis Rocha, a Bolsonaro ally, was suspended for 90 days by a Supreme Court justice who argued that the riots "could only have occurred with the consent" of the authorities.

• Rocha denied any complicity. Before being suspended, he fired Brasília's security chief, who was formerly Bolsonaro's justice minister. Bolsonaro has many allies within the security forces and military.
• Brazil's purpose-built capital was effectively laid out so as not to allow this sort of thing to happen, Ribeiro says.
• Access points to government buildings could have been blocked off, but weren't, he says. "Best case scenario, gross incompetence. Worst case scenario, they let it happen maliciously."

What's next: The first challenge for Lula's government is to prevent further violence and disruption, says Ribeiro, noting that Bolsonaro supporters have been trying to block access to oil refineries to sow further chaos — so far unsuccessfully.

• The focus will then turn to investigations and potential charges against politicians, businesspeople and others alleged to have organized or funded the riots.

another worthless post from TD's silly school girl above. The PB of speakers corner (look at me)

• Brazil’s attempted coup was thwarted by Lula’s decisive action, minister says

The insurrection that shook Brazil’s capital was a well-organised coup attempt that was thwarted thanks to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s swift and firm reaction, one of the president’s top ministers has told the Guardian.

Speaking at the presidential palace on Tuesday, the minister of institutional relations, Alexandre Padilha, said he believed Sunday’s far-right assault on the three branches of Brazil’s government was “an act of terrorism” designed to bring down Lula’s week-old government.

And Padilha said the insurrection in support of the former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro might have succeeded had it not been for Lula’s decision to order a federal intervention that put his administration in charge of security in the capital, Brasília.

Ibaneis Rocha, the pro-Bolsonaro governor of the federal district which contains Brazil’s capital, was suspended from his post on Sunday night amid outrage that local security forces had failed to stop thousands of radical Bolsonaristas ransacking the presidential palace, congress and supreme court.

“If the government of the federal district had acted as agreed with the minister of defense and the minister of justice, none of what happened on Sunday would have happened,” Padilha said, denouncing what he called “terrorist attacks” on the heart of Brazilian democracy.

“Perhaps, if we hadn’t had a leader with the popular support and ability to build political bridges that President Lula enjoys … Brazilian history might have been different when it came to the attempted coup, [and] the storming of the supreme court, congress and the presidential palace,” Padilha said.

The minister also praised the unity shown in the wake of the attacks by the leaders of Brazil’s supreme court, lower house and congress, and Brazil’s 27 regional governors, who gathered in the rubble-strewn plaza outside the presidential palace on Monday night in a powerful show of support for Lula’s new administration and Brazilian democracy.

“All of this was halted, it was stopped thanks to the firm response of President Lula,” and the pro-democracy consensus between political leaders of all stripes, added Padilha.

Exactly who orchestrated and bankrolled Sunday’s violence – and what their precise goals were – remains unclear.

But Padilha said he believed the insurrectionists had come to the capital convinced they could close down the Brazilian presidency, congress and supreme court and that a parallel “political command” would be able occupy that space with the help of sympathetic military or other security forces.

“Many of them [imagined their actions] might open the door to some kind of action from security officers or members of the armed forces that would make it impossible for the Brazilian government to operate and impair the role of the supreme court,” he said.

Padilha said the government had intelligence showing that Bolsonarista reinforcements were set to be bussed into the capital on Sunday night from three Brazilian states – São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Goiás – to bolster the coup attempt.

There is no evidence that Jair Bolsonaro was directly involved in any such a plot. The former army captain and president, who is currently in the US, has denied involvement in the mayhem.

But Lula’s minister blamed Bolsonaro’s relentless undermining of Brazil’s democratic institutions for creating the backdrop for the upheaval.

“For four years the ex-president Bolsonaro spread and cultivated an atmosphere of hatred in this country, not just against political parties, the opposition and in particular the leadership of President Lula, but also against Brazil’s supreme court,” he said.

Padilha admitted that Brazil’s security forces had been “contaminated” by Bolsonaro’s antidemocratic ideals.

“We know that numerous institutions have been contaminated by Bolsonarista hatred and the putschist practices of the Brazilian far right,” he said.

Why the CIA attempted a ‘Maidan uprising’ in Brazil

^Fvck off Jeff

• Brazil issues arrest warrants for security chiefs after pro-Bolsonaro riots

Brazilian authorities seeking to punish the mob that stormed the halls of power in Brasilia issued arrest warrants Tuesday for two former senior officials, one of them a close ally of far right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.

One of them is Anderson Torres, who used to be Bolsonaro's justice minister and lately served as security chief in the capital.

He was fired after Sunday's stunning violence, which was reminiscent of the January 6, 2021 insurrection in Washington, and brought global condemnation.

Torres's failure to act as thousands of Bolsonaro supporters overran congress, the presidential palace and the supreme court is "potentially criminal," judge Alexandre Moraes of the Supreme Court said.

He also issued an arrest warrant for Fabio Augusto, who led the military police in Brasilia and was also removed from his job after Sunday's mob violence. News reports said he is already in custody.

"Brazilian democracy will not be struck, much less destroyed, by terrorist criminals," the judge wrote in his decision.

Torres was on vacation in the United States on Sunday as the mob ran amok. On Tuesday he denied any complicity in the events and said he will return to Brazil and defend himself.

Bolsonaro has also been in the United States since the end of December, skipping the inauguration of successor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Most of the arrests took place on Monday as police cleared protest camps set up in the capital.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Why the CIA attempted a ‘Maidan uprising’ in Brazil

Fucking hell, Jeff has really swallowed the wanketeer koolaid.

• Thousands in Brazil demand Jair Bolsonaro be jailed for ‘supporting far-right rioters who tried to seize capital’

Tens of thousands of people in Brazil chanted that ex-president Jair Bolsonaro should be jailed for allegedly promoting far-right rioters who stormed the capital on Sunday.

Mr Bolsonaro, who has not admitted his defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is currently in hospital in the United States having been admitted for abdominal pains.

Roughly 1,500 people have been held over Sunday’s riots in Brasília.

On Monday evening, the 77-year-old new leader - widely known as Lula - visited the damaged buildings of Congress, the presidential palace and Supreme Court.

“The Brasilia police neglected [the attack threat], Brasilia’s intelligence neglected it,” President Lula said during a meeting with governors.

“It is easy to see in the footage the police officers talking to the attackers. There was an explicit connivance of the police with the demonstrators,” he said.

He also vowed to find out who financed the protesters.

Sunday’s dramatic scenes in Brasília saw thousands of protesters clad in yellow Brazil football shirts and flags overrun police and ransack the heart of the Brazilian state.

Lula was forced to declare emergency powers.

Mr Bolsonaro condemned the attack and denied responsibility for encouraging the rioters in a post on Twitter some six hours after violence broke out.

Brasília Governor Ibaneis Rocha has been removed from his post for 90 days by the Supreme Court.

Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes accused him of failing to prevent the riot and of being “painfully silent” in the face of the attack.

Mr Bolsonaro, who flew to the United States days before his term in office ended, went to a hospital in Orlando on Monday complaining of intestinal pains related to a stabbing he suffered during the 2018 election campaign. His doctor said he has an intestinal blockage that was not serious and would likely not need surgery.

In an interview with CNN Brasil, Bolsonaro said he had planned to stay in the United States until the end of January, but now plans to go back to Brazil sooner to see his doctors.

"I intend to bring forward my return because in Brazil the doctors already know about my problem of intestinal obstruction due to the stab wound," Bolsonaro said, according to a report on the CNN Brasil website.

The US government declined to comment on Bolsonaro's current visa status.

• Brazil police find draft decree intended to overturn election result in former Bolsonaro minister's home

Brazilian police searching the house of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s justice minister found a draft decree proposing the introduction of a state of defense to overturn the result of the country’s presidential election, the ministry’s spokeswoman told CNN.

Justice Ministry spokeswoman Lorena Ribeiro said Federal Police found the document while carrying out a search and arrest warrant at the house of Anderson Torres on Tuesday.

She said it proposed implementing a “state of defense” in the Superior Electoral Court while Bolsonaro was still leader in order to overturn the victory of his rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in the October election. The draft had not been signed by Bolsonaro, Ribeiro said.

A state of defense is a legal measure that allows the sitting President to intervene in other areas of government to secure public order. While Bolsonaro lost the October election, he remained president until the end of December.

CNN has not viewed the document and Torres – who served as justice minister until the Bolsonaro administration left office – has issued a statement on social media denying he was the author of the decree.

“As Minister of Justice, we are faced with hearings, suggestions, and proposals of the most diverse types,” he wrote. “In my house there was a pile of documents to be discarded, where most likely the material described in the article was found,” he added. “Everything would be taken to be shredded at the Ministry of Justice in due course.”

Torres suggested that the decree draft had been deliberately leaked to media to discredit him.

“The cited document was picked up when I wasn’t there and leaked out of context, helping to fuel fallacious narratives against me. We were the first ministry to deliver management reports for the transition (of power),” he said. “I respect Brazilian democracy. I have a clear conscience regarding my role as minister.”

After leaving government, Torres took office as the head of Security for the Federal District of Brasilia, but was fired on Sunday after protesters breached police barriers and broke into government buildings. He had traveled to Orlando, Florida, allegedly on holiday, just days before the riots and was there as events unfolded.

Torres vowed to cut his holiday short and face justice after search and arrest warrants were issued by the Brazilian Supreme Court, denying any wrongdoing.

Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court issued Torres a preventive detention order under an arrest warrant issued on Wednesday.

The draft documents were first reported by Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo on Thursday.

Brazil’s new Justice Minister Flavio Dino told CNN Brasil on Thursday the existence of the draft decree was “appalling” and said what it called for was “unconstitutional.”

He also criticized Torres for keeping the document at his home. “A public agent, upon becoming aware of a crime, should not keep such a document at home. It is something that really shows the will of closing the Supreme Court, the Congress, of preventing the freedom of the Brazilian people to choose their rulers. And all attempts failed, including the one on January 8.”

“What can I say to the Brazilian nation is if someone gives me a document of that nature, they would be arrested, because it is criminal. I wouldn’t keep it, I wouldn’t grind it,” Dino said.

Brazil's Supreme Court to investigate Bolsonaro over capital riot

Brazil's Supreme Court late Friday said it will investigate whether former President Jair Bolsonaro incited last Sunday's attack on Congress and other government buildings in the capital Brasília.

Driving the news: The prosecutor-general's office requested that Bolsonaro, who is currently in the U.S., be included in the investigation, citing a video he shared on Facebook two days after the attack, per AP. The video falsely claimed President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's election win was fraudulent.

• Prosecutors argued that because the post, which has since been deleted, could “have the power to incite new acts of civil insurgency," Bolsonaro's actions before the attack should be investigated, the Washington Post reported.

What they're saying: "Public figures who continue to cowardly conspire against democracy trying to establish a state of exception will be held accountable," Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes said in his decision authorizing the investigation, per Reuters.

• De Moraes added that Bolsonaro's repeated questioning of the country's electronic voting system ahead of last year's election "may have contributed, in a very relevant way, to the occurrence of criminal and terrorist acts," according to the New York Times.

Frederick Wassef, Bolsonaro's lawyer, said in a statement following the Supreme Court's announcement that the former president "vehemently repudiates the acts of vandalism and depredation of public property committed by those infiltrating the demonstration,” per the Times.

• Bolsonaro "has never had any relationship with or participation in these spontaneous social movements carried out by the population," Wassef added.

Catch up quick: Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the National Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace buildings last Sunday in an attack reminiscent of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by supporters of former President Trump.

• The attack took place less than a week after Lula was sworn in as president. Lula has vowed to hold all those responsible for the attack accountable.

• Bolsonaro, who flew to Florida just before Lula's inauguration, criticized the attack in a series of tweets posted several hours after his supporters stormed the buildings on Jan. 8.
• He said peaceful protests were a part of democracy, but not the "destruction and invasions of public buildings, like what occurred today." He also rejected assertions that he shared responsibility for the attack.

The big picture: Brazil's Supreme Court had already ordered the arrest of Anderson Torres, the former head of security in the nation's capital, over allegations he sabotaged Brasília's security operations ahead of the attack.

• Torres, who was also in Florida on the day of the riot, was fired following the attack. He has denounced the riot and vowed to return to Brazil to defend himself, saying he has always acted ethically and legally.

Brazil's ex-justice minister arrested upon return to country following riot

Brazil's former Justice Minister Anderson Torres was arrested in Brasilia on Saturday over allegations he sabotaged security operations ahead of a group breaking into the capital and presidential palace, per Reuters.

The big picture: Torres, the former head of security in the nation's capital, was in charge of ensuring the federal district's safety when supporters of right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings earlier this week.

• Torres was fired from his position by Brasilia Gov. Ibaneis Rocha shortly after the riot occurred.
• Torres has denied any involvement in the riots.

Details: Torres had been on vacation in Florida and was arrested upon his return to Brazil on Saturday, Brazil's Federal Police said in a statement.

• He has denounced the riot and vowed to return to Brazil to defend himself, saying he has always acted ethically and legally.
• It was not immediately clear what the exact charges were but Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered his arrest on suspicion of omission and connivance.
• de Moraes said Torres failed to act to prevent the riot and that his "omission was amply proven by the predictability of the conduct of criminal groups and the lack of security that enabled the invasion of public buildings."

Catch up quick: President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office earlier this month and was in São Paulo at the time of the attacks, signed a decree renouncing "coup acts in Brasilia."

• An estimated 1,200 people were detained during the riot.

Lula’s government claims it has ‘absolute control’ after storming of capital by Bolsonaro supporters, but failed putsch is not over, say insiders

Sônia Guajajara should have been making history last Tuesday afternoon, being sworn in as the head of Brazil’s first ministry for Indigenous peoples at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Brasília.

Instead, with that building wrecked last Sunday by thousands of far-right extremists, she sat in her office overlooking Brazil’s similarly ransacked congress, reflecting on the stunning attempt to overthrow one of the world’s biggest democracies.

“It was truly frightening … such insanity,” said the 48-year-old politician who hails from the Amazon and worked as a cleaner and nanny before becoming a leading Indigenous activist.

“They say they are patriots who are fighting for Brazil … [but] this is terrorism … and this was engineered by people with economic and political power,” Guajajara said, as her government battled to identify those behind the most serious outbreak of political violence since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985.

In the days since the insurrection – which came just a week after the leftist veteran Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office as president – the scale of the alleged plot to overthrow Brazil’s democracy has become clear.

Lula’s administration has accused hardcore supporters of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, of attempting to stage a coup by storming the presidency, congress and supreme court. They believe that was aimed at encouraging security forces to rise up, allowing Bolsonaro to return from the US – where he has been since the eve of Lula’s 1 January inauguration – to retake power.

On Thursday, federal police reportedly found a document in the wardrobe of Bolsonaro’s former justice minister, Anderson Torres, which allegedly outlined a plan for the former president to seize control of the supreme electoral court to overturn October’s election, in which Lula won by more than 2m votes.

“Brazilian democracy has been unquestionably tarnished and is at risk,” the commentator Mauro Paulino warned on the GloboNews television network.

On Friday night, the supreme court announced Bolsonaro would be investigated as part of the inquiry into the alleged attempt to topple the country’s new government. Bolsonaro’s lawyer denied wrongdoing, calling the former president a “defender of democracy”.

Torres, who was security chief in Brasília at the time of the attacks, was arrested on Saturday morning after flying back to Brazil from the US – where he was purportedly on holiday when the rebellion took place. The former justice minister, whose arrest was ordered for alleged acts of omission, has denied involvement, claiming he planned to shred a document that had been taken “out of context”.

“Deep down, I think we have so many good intentions that we didn’t believe something like this might happen,” said Celso Amorim, one of Lula’s closest aides, in his office in the presidential palace on Wednesday afternoon, with hundreds of troops and an armoured vehicle stationed outside to prevent a repeat invasion.

Amorim, who was Brazil’s foreign minister during Lula’s 2003-2010 administration, said he hoped the uprising had been nipped in the bud. “But I can’t rule out attempts, here and there, that will need to be prevented if possible, and repressed if necessary,” he said.

“We need to be really vigilant,” Amorim said. “We can’t just think it was something that happened and is over and that’s it.”

Many fear Brazil’s moment of danger is far from over given the support for Bolsonaro within the security apparatus, notably the armed forces and military police. Many believe such support partly explains the security failure that allowed extremists to run riot through Brazil’s capital.

Brazil’s new minister of Indigenous people Sonia Guajajara, new Minister for Racial Equality Anielle Franco, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his wife, Rosangela ‘Janja’ da Silva arrive at the Planalto Palace for Guajajara’s swearing-in ceremony in Brasilia on 11 January.

Polls show an overwhelming majority oppose the turmoil. But 58 million voters backed Bolsonaro in the 2022 election, many of whom have embraced baseless social media claims that the vote was rigged in Lula’s favour.

In his first extended interview since taking office, Lula hinted at such nervousness, promising a “thorough screening” of those employed in the presidential palace because of suspicions that “hardcore Bolsonarista” staff and military officials had helped insurrectionists storm the building.

On Friday, Lula’s foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, told the Observer he believed the government now had “absolute control” over the situation, after making more than 1,800 arrests. “My impression is that the manner in which the government reacted will discourage any kind of new adventure because the punishments will be increasingly severe,” he said.

But details of last weekend’s rampage give a sense of the rightwing rage that have gripped parts of Brazilian society since Bolsonaro’s election in 2018 – and which will not disappear overnight.

• Brazil charges 39 with staging coup after storming of government buildings

The office of Brazil’s prosecutor-general has presented its first charges against some of the thousands of people who authorities say stormed government buildings in an effort to overturn former president Jair Bolsonaro’s loss in the October election.

The prosecutors in the recently formed group to combat antidemocratic acts have also requested that the 39 defendants who allegedly ransacked the Brazilian congress building be imprisoned as a preventive measure, and that 40m reais ($7.7m) of their assets be frozen to help cover damages.

The defendants have been charged with armed criminal association, violent attempt to subvert the democratic state of law, staging a coup and damage to public property, the prosecutor-general’s office said in a statement released late on Monday. Their identities have not yet been released.

Rioters who stormed through the Brazilian congress building, the presidential palace and the supreme court in the capital, Brasília, sought to have the armed forces intervene and overturn Bolsonaro’s loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The rioters “attempted, with the use of violence and serious threat, to abolish the democratic rule of law, preventing or restricting the exercise of constitutional powers”, according to an excerpt of charges included in a statement. “The ultimate objective of the attack … was the installation of an alternative government regime.”

The attackers were not charged with terrorism because under Brazilian law such a charge must involve xenophobia or prejudice based on race, ethnicity or religion.

The prosecutor-general’s office sent its charges to the supreme court after the senate’s president, Rodrigo Pacheco, last week provided a list of people accused of rampaging through congress. Additional rioters are expected to be charged.

• Lula suspects pro-Bolsonaro staff helped mob enter presidential palace

The Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said he suspects hardcore supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro among the presidential staff facilitated the entry of insurrectionists who stormed his presidential palace seeking to overthrow Brazil’s government.

Speaking to a group of political journalists in Brasília’s Planalto palace – one of three buildings trashed by the pro-Bolsonaro mob last Sunday – Lula vowed to carry out a “thorough screening” of employees in the wake of the historic attack.

“I am waiting for the dust to settle. I want to see all of the [security] tapes that were recorded inside the supreme court, congress and the Planalto presidential palace,” Lula said on Thursday morning.

“[But] many people were complicit in this … many people in the military police were complicit. There were many people in the armed forces here inside [the palace] who were complicit,” added the leftist veteran, as a bodyguard carrying a flexible bulletproof screen loitered behind him.

“We are carrying out a thorough screening [of our staff] because the truth is that the [presidential] palace was full of Bolsonaristas and military officials and we want to try to correct this so we can appoint career civil servants – preferably civilian ones … so that this becomes a civilised department.

“Nobody who is suspected of being a hardcore Bolsonarista can be allowed to remain in the palace.

“How can I have someone at the door of my office who might shoot me?” Lula added, pointing to media reports he said he had read about military officials vowing to assassinate him.

The ease with which thousands of fanatical supporters of Brazil’s former far-right leader marauded through the country’s most important democratic institutions has shocked the nation and the world, and sparked deep soul-searching among members of Lula’s 12-day-old government.

“I feel very, very, very angry about what happened,” Lula told journalists over breakfast at the palace he previously occupied between 2003 and 2010.

“I am convinced that the door to the Planalto palace was opened so these people could get in because I didn’t see the front door had been broken down. And that means that somebody facilitated their entry here,” Lula said.

Brazil’s president added: “What happened was an alert, a major alert, and we must take more care. We need to understand that we won an election and we beat Bolsonaro but Bolsonarismo is still out there. And fanatical Bolsonarismo is very tricky because it respects no one.”

Fears over a new round of pro-Bolsonaro protests came to nothing on Wednesday evening, after a massive deployment of security forces around the palace, congress and supreme court. Only two or three people are reported to have turned out.

“We need to be wary but not afraid,” about the prospect of future episodes of violence, Lula said.

As Lula spoke, disturbing new details of what he called last Sunday’s “stupidity” – and the stunning security failure that failed to contain it – emerged in the Brazilian press.

The newspaper O Globo reported that police officers responsible for protecting the senate building – which suffered severe damage – had given statements describing how they had been overwhelmed by a horde of radicals armed with homemade bombs, wooden clubs, metal railings, firecrackers and slingshots used to hurl marbles.

Another broadsheet, the Estado de São Paulo, claimed that on the eve of the insurrection, the organ responsible for presidential security had rejected the need for reinforcements from the army battalion tasked with defending the Planalto palace. In their absence, the building was trashed, with the office of Brazil’s first lady, Rosângela Lula da Silva, sustaining particularly severe damage.

A video obtained by the New York Times showed the exact moment, at 2.42pm on Sunday, that an overwhelmingly outnumbered line of military police were engulfed by hundreds of Bolsonarista extremists, who smashed down their plastic barrier and surged towards Lula’s palace.

Inside, they ran amok, vandalising celebrated works of art, smashing windows, furniture and doors, stealing weapons and food, and even urinating inside the room used by journalists who cover the presidency.

On Thursday, Lula told reporters he believed the putschists had only spared his office because they believed Bolsonaro would reoccupy it once their alleged coup attempt had been completed, allowing the former president to fly back from the US to retake power.

Lula condemned the images that have emerged of rioters’ behaviour during their historic assault. “I don’t know if you saw the pictures of this fellow defecating [in one of the ransacked buildings],” Lula said.

“This kind of fellow cannot go unpunished. If he has a granddaughter we should show them to her and say: ‘Look what a scoundrel your grandfather is.’”

More than 1,800 people were reportedly arrested in Brasília after the attack, 1,159 of whom remain in custody. Six hundred and ninety-four detainees, mostly women, children and elderly citizens, have been released.

Those transferred to one of the city’s prisons were reportedly vaccinated against Covid – an ironic plot twist given the resistance of Bolsonaro’s movement to immunisation against a disease their science-denying leader has dismissed as a “little flu”.

Lula and his ministers have described Sunday’s attack as an attempted coup staged by hardcore Bolsonaro backers who refuse to recognise the leftist’s victory in last October’s election, which Lula won by a margin of 2m votes.

Bolsonaro has denied involvement in Sunday’s violence, and no evidence has emerged showing he played a direct role.

But the supreme court this week ordered the arrest of Bolsonaro’s former justice minister Anderson Torres – who was in charge of Brasília’s security at the time of the riot – and federal police searched his home.

Torres, who, like Bolsonaro, was in Florida during the attack, has also denied involvement, and announced he would fly back to Brazil to turn himself in. Torres is reportedly expected to arrive on Friday.

Bolsonaro has also been linked to several of the extremists present during the riot, including Marcelo Soares Corrêa, a former paratrooper who reportedly had breakfast with the then president at his official residence in June 2021. The former president’s nephew, Leonardo Rodrigues de Jesus, was also reportedly present during the insurrection.

Lula Dismisses More Military Personnel From Security Detail After Brazil Riots

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday dismissed 13 more military officers who were assigned to the National Security Advisor's office that is responsible for the president's security.

The decision follows the removal of 40 military officers on Tuesday from the Alvorada presidential residence, as Lula expressed his distrust in the military for failing to act against supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who stormed government buildings on Jan. 8.

The leftist president questioned how he could trust the military personnel with his personal security after what had happened.

Lula had previously said he suspected that there was collusion by "people in the Armed Forces" with the insurrection in which several thousand Bolsonaro supporters invaded and ransacked the Congress building, the Planalto presidential offices and the Supreme Court.

The demonstrators were protesting Bolsonaro's loss in the October elections and calling for a military coup to oust Lula and restore the far-right populist leader.

I believe a spin of an alternative perspective is in order......outside of the expected and usual establishment agenda-based sources.

fvck off jeff. no one cares

_________

• Lula da Silva to meet with Biden on February 10 in the U.S

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will meet with his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, on February 10 during a visit to the White House, government sources have confirmed.

The United States will thus become the third country visited by Lula after taking office on January 1, since he plans to visit Argentina next week to attend the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The president will also travel to Uruguay, according to G1 television channel.

In December, the White House sent a delegation to Brazil to deliver to Lula an invitation from Biden to travel to Washington «as soon as possible». The two leaders have already exchanged phone calls in recent weeks, as have their corresponding foreign ministers, Mauro Vieira and Antony Blinken.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

I believe a spin of an alternative perspective is in order......outside of the expected and usual establishment agenda-based sources.

Maybe you should try posting such alternative perspectives then, instead of these banal, witless inanities all the time.

Just sayin'.

Silly school girl responding to it.