Judicial authorities in Brazil have launched the first investigations to determine who is responsible for the storming of several official buildings on Sunday by supporters of the far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia, where the current leader has returned. state Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who denounced the work of “putschists”.
After several hours of chaos reminiscent of the invasion of the Capitol in Washington two years ago, security forces have regained control of the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court invaded Sunday by hundreds of anti-Lula demonstrators, according to Minister of Justice and Security Flavio Dino.
“The putschists who promoted the destruction of public property in Brasilia are being identified and will be punished. Tomorrow we resume work at Planalto Palace. Democracy always,” tweeted the leftist president, who inspected the ransacked buildings upon his return to Brasilia late Sunday evening.
More than 300 people were arrested and the public prosecutor’s office demanded the immediate opening of investigations to establish “the responsibility of those involved” in the attack on official buildings.
The area had been cordoned off by the authorities. But the bolsonarists, for many dressed in the yellow jersey of the Seleçao, the Brazilian football team, a symbol that they appropriated, managed to force the security cordons. They caused considerable damage to the three huge palaces, which are treasures of modern architecture and are full of works of art.
Priceless paintings were damaged, including mulattoesby the modernist painter Di Cavalcanti, exhibited at the Presidential Palace and pierced with several holes, according to photos circulating on social networks.
Videos have also circulated on social networks showing ransacked offices of parliamentarians. A demonstrator sat on the seat of the president of the Senate, a striking mimicry with the rioters supporters of ex-president Donald Trump who had invaded the Capitol two years ago.
According to CNN, protesters set fire to the carpet in a Congressional lounge, which had to be flooded to put out the fire.
A press union reported the attack on five journalists. Among them, an AFP photographer was beaten and had all his equipment stolen.
“We do not recognize this government because it is illegitimate,” Victor Rodrigues told AFP. “We are not backing down, we will leave here but we will come back,” he promised.
” We will return “
The rallying cry of the demonstrators “military intervention” (to oust Mr. Lula from power) continued to rise from the crowd that remained around the Congress for hours, despite the fumes of tear gas or the water cannons of the police.
Jair Bolsonaro is in the United States, where he left two days before Lula’s inauguration, refusing to hand over the presidential sash to the man who defeated him by a short head in the presidential election. october.
In a series of tweets, he condemned without firmness “the depredations and invasions of public buildings”. But he also “rejected the accusations, without proof” of his successor that he had encouraged the violence.
Several of his allies dissociated themselves from Sunday’s violence, including Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the Liberal Party (PL), Bolsonaro’s party, who regretted “a sad day for the Brazilian nation”.
The governor of the Federal District of Brasilia, Ibaneis Rocha, another ally of Jair Bolsonaro, apologized to President Lula in a video. He called those responsible for the depredations of public buildings “real vandals” and “real terrorists”.
“We were monitoring with the Minister (of Justice) Flavio Dino all these movements […] At no time did we think that these demonstrations would take on such proportions,” he said.
These rampages provoked an avalanche of outraged reactions in the world. French President Emmanuel Macron told Lula he could “count on the unwavering support of France”.
His American counterpart Joe Biden, who begins a summit of North American leaders in Mexico on Monday bringing together the United States, Mexico and Canada, considered the violence of the demonstrators “scandalous”. “Using violence to attack democratic institutions is always unacceptable,” tweeted its Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador denounced “the conservative coup attempt in Brazil”.
Bolsonarists had already been demonstrating in front of military barracks since the defeat of the outgoing president. They demanded the intervention of the army to prevent Lula from returning to power for a third term, after those from 2003 to 2010. Some of them also blocked main roads for more than a week after the election.