Nearly one in five Brazilians approve of the invasion and ransacking of places of power by supporters of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday in Brasilia, according to a poll published Wednesday by the Atlas Institute.
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To the question “do you agree with the actions of the demonstrators who occupied the Congress, the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court”, 18.4% of the respondents answered in the affirmative, 75.8% say disagree and 5.8% refrained from answering.
And 53% of respondents consider this invasion “totally unjustified”, while 27.5% consider it “partly justified” and 10.5% “totally justified”.
Just over half (50.2%) of respondents believe that Jair Bolsonaro is responsible for the riots.
This survey was conducted Monday and Tuesday with a representative sample of 2,200 people.
On Sunday, several thousand bolsonarists refusing to accept the return to power of left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sowed chaos in Brasilia, in the face of a totally overwhelmed police force, but considered complacent, even accomplice by many specialists.
They have invaded the most emblematic places of power of Brazilian democracy, which are very close to each other, around the Three Powers Square, in the heart of the futuristic capital.
Inside, the rioters destroyed everything in their path, including rare furniture and priceless works of art.