In the end, the worst fears became a sad reality. Brasília, early Sunday afternoon: A mob of what are believed to be several thousand supporters of right-wing ex-President Jair Bolsonaro is moving in front of the military headquarters in the Brazilian capital. Many have tied Brazilian flags or are wearing the yellow jersey of the Brazilian national soccer team, which has long been a hallmark of the far right in the South American country.
They march along a wide boulevard in the heart of the capital, past ministries in the direction of the Praca dos Tres Poderes, the Square of the Three Powers, which is centrally located between the National Congress, the Supreme Court and the Presidential Palace. Police officers stand in their way, but there are far too few and the attackers break through all barriers, they climb onto the roof of the congress building and shortly thereafter they start smashing windows and entering the entrance hall and the plenary hall.
The mob is still raging, as some are already moving on to the Supreme Court building and the Palacio do Planalto, the seat of government. Videos online show dozens of men running through hallways and halls cheering. TV recordings later show the extent of the destruction: entire offices have been devastated, pictures torn from the walls, printers, screens and computers destroyed. Sections of the Supreme Court were reportedly even flooded with a fire-fighting hose.
Brazilian television is reporting live on what is happening, and many moderators and reporters are horrified. Because Brazil may have experienced quite a bit of political chaos and violence in its recent history; never before has a radical right-wing mob stormed government buildings and devastated parts of the capital.
There were signs and warnings
At the same time, less than a week has passed since Brazil’s new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office on January 1st. Thousands of fans celebrated with the left-wing politician back then, there were bands and beer, a colorful folk festival, exactly at the place where chaos and destruction reign six days later.
However, experts and observers had long warned that it could come to this. For years, South America’s largest democracy has been deeply divided between left and right, between supporters of Lula da Silva and his Labor Party on the one hand and supporters of right-wing ex-President Jair Bolsonaro on the other.
In 2018, the former paratrooper captain and political backbencher surprisingly won the elections. As soon as he took office, he began relaxing gun laws and increasing the influence of the army. And months before the elections in October last year, he began to question the electronic voting system, although there were no objections from experts and he himself had been elected president with it. “We will win in the first round,” he told supporters, “anything else would be cheating.” In the end, however, Bolsonaro narrowly lost to his challenger Lula da Silva in October.
Even then, there were roadblocks all over Brazil as a result. Truck drivers loyal to Bolsonaro blocked freeways, farmers dumped dirt on main roads and set tires on fire. It took a few days for the police and judiciary to regain control of the situation. However, protests continued in front of barracks and military buildings. Right-wing demonstrators openly called for the army to intervene, and there were also isolated cases of violence, police stations being attacked and cars set on fire.
The nervousness in the run-up to the handover of government on January 1 was therefore huge. The strictest security regulations applied, and thousands of police officers were on duty. But in the end there was no rioting and even Jair Bolsonaro had fled to Florida before the inauguration, despite all tradition. Some people took that as a sign that the worst could be over. But on Sunday, that dream was shattered amid shattered windows, stun grenades and tear gas.
Parallels to January 6, 2021 in Washington
The fact that the scenes were similar to those that took place in the United States two years ago on January 6, when supporters of the deposed North American President Donald Trump broke into parliament: All of this is probably no coincidence. Jair Bolsonaro has always been a big supporter of the right-wing populist from the United States and there are close ties between the extreme right in Brazil and the US.
After all: While there are injuries and deaths in the United States, no one is seriously injured in Brazil, which is probably mainly due to the fact that the capital is largely in the summer break and the buildings and offices are almost empty, as the attackers invade.
The real question, however, is not how it came about that a violent mob of radical Bolsonaro supporters stormed the congress in Brasília, but why nobody stopped him. Because the attack had probably been planned for days. Brazilian media quoted messages from right-wing chat groups calling on members to travel to the capital, sometimes even providing buses for the journey, as well as food and accommodation. However, the authorities in the capital did not seem to have noticed and later they could not or did not want to oppose the attackers.
In an impromptu press conference, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sharply criticized the authorities in the capital on Sunday afternoon local time: “Military police officers accompanied the rioters,” he said Force.
The left-wing politician gave his right-wing predecessor direct complicity in the events. He later denied all guilt in a short message on Twitter.
On Sunday evening it seemed that the situation in Brasília was under control again. By decree, President Lula da Silva ordered the federal government to assume responsibility for public safety in the capital. According to the authorities, several hundred attackers have been arrested. At the same time, Brazilian media also reported on messages circulating in right-wing chat groups calling for government buildings to be occupied or fuel depots to be brought under control in other cities in the country.