Bolsonaro supporters storm congress, presidential building, court

The attack — the most significant threat to democracy in Latin America’s largest nation since the 1964 military coup — came a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to succeed Bolsonaro. It suggested a spreading plague of far-right disrupters in Western democracies, as hard-liners radicalized by incendiary political rhetoric refuse to accept election losses, cling to unfounded claims of fraud and undermine the rule of law.

Bolsonaristas occupied the congress building, many of them sitting or lying on the ground. A flag placed in front of the building read “intervention” — a reference to calls for the military to depose Lula, who defeated Bolsonaro in an October election.

Most wrapped themselves in the yellow and green of the Brazilian flag. Some shouted at police officers “this is just the beginning” and “May God may bless you and prevent you from acting against us patriots.”

Images broadcast by Globo TV showed smashed glass and protesters roaming the halls of the Planalto Palace, the office of the president. Protesters set off fireworks from the roof of.

Thousands more, wearing the yellow and green jersey of the national soccer team — now a symbol of the far right — milled about a massive square similar to Washington’s National Mall, waving Brazilian flags and chanting “God, Fatherland, Family and Liberty.”

Videos shared on social media showed scores marching to the Praça dos Três Poderes — the Plaza of the Three Powers — according to videos on social media. One video, purportedly from the assault Sunday, appeared to show a group of protesters attacking a mounted police officer. A woman yells out, “stop, stop!” A man says “guys, let the police officer go.”

Later Sunday, the boom and clouds of acrid tear gas could be seen in the plaza as security forces tried to reassert order.

A visibly angered Lula, addressing the nation Sunday evening, condemned the invaders as “fascists.”

“There is no precedent for this,” he said. “All the people [who stormed public buildings] will be found and punished.”

Bolsonaro, who has been in Orlando, Florida, over the past week, had not spoken publicly by Sunday evening.

The assault underscored the massive challenge ahead for Lula as he seeks to lead a deeply divided nation polarized in the aftermath of the closest election in Brazilian history and poisoned by the global era of toxic politics.

Protesters launched the invasion around 2:30 p.m. local time. Justice Minister Flavio Dino said it would be met by security forces.

“This absurd attempt to impose the will by force will not prevail,” he tweeted. “The Government of the Federal District claims that there will be reinforcements. And the forces at our disposal are at work. I’m at the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice.”

The United States, European Union and Latin American countries were quick to condemn the insurrection. ““The United States condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted. “President Biden is following the situation closely and our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazil’s democracy will not be shaken by violence.”

The incident amounted to another uncanny parallel between Bolsonaro and Trump, his political lodestar. Pundits have warned for months of the possibility of a Jan. 6-style action here. Before the election, Bolsonaro claimed without evidence that Brazil’s electronic voting machines were untrustworthy. Since his lost, he has stoked discontent among his base, encouraging protest camps outside military installations and calling the result unfair in a farewell address last month.

“This genocidal person … provoked this,” Lula said. “He encouraged the invasion of the three” branches of government.

Robert Muggah, co-founder of the think tank Igarapé Institute in Rio de Janeiro, called the “explosion of mob violence” an “insurrection foretold.”

“The similarities of Brazilian far-right mobs storming Congress, the Supreme Court and Presidential Palace with the Jan. 6 insurrection of the Capitol are not coincidental,” he continued. “Like their MAGA counterparts, Bolsonaro supporters have been fed a steady diet of misinformation and disinformation for years, much of it modeled on the narratives pedaled by far-right influencers in the U.S.”

The assault in Brasilia appeared broader in scope than the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The buildings targeted represented all three branches of Brazil’s government.

Lula faces ranks of police who remain tacit backers of Bolsonaro, who encouraged heavy-handed police tactics during his tenure and stocked their senior ranks with loyalists. A sector of the police was accused during the election of setting up checkpoints in Lula strongholds to slow access to ballot boxes. On Sunday, the news outlet Estadao posted a photo of police on duty apparently buying coconut water as rioters assaulted the branches of Brazilian government.

“Unfortunately, the ones who have to take care of security in the Federal District are the Federal Police. And they did not,” Lula said Sunday.

Anderson Torres, the secretary of public security in the Brasilia Federal District, was Bolsonaro’s justice minister. On Sunday, he condemned the he rioters on Twitter, but was fired by the state governor. Brazilian media reported that Torres was in Florida with Bolsonaro. The Washington Post could not independently confirm his whereabouts.

Thousands of Bolsonaristas have camped out at military headquarters across Latin America’s largest country, demanding military intervention to reinstate Bolsonaro, who last week flew to Florida instead of attending a ceremony in the capital of Brasilia where outgoing presidents traditionally hand over the sash of power.

Although the spark that lit the assaults on Sunday was unclear, Dino said on Wednesday he would move to clear the protest camps outside military headquarters in Brasilia and across the country on Friday. No significant operations were launched that day.

There was little indication that authorities were prepared for the insurrection on Sunday. There was no evidence of an increased security presence at the buildings targeted.

Military police officers attempted to stop the rioters at the Planalto Palace with tear gas and other weapons but initially appeared far outnumbered.

By 5 p.m., security forces and riot police managed to retake the supreme court, but some protesters remained in the parking garage, a court spokeswoman said. One judge, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of developing events, said officials were still trying to assess the scope of the damage.

By 6:20 p.m., police had brought the Planalto Palace largely under control.

The congress and supreme court are both in recess. No lawmakers or judges were present. After the assault began, Lula left São Paulo state to return to Brasília.

They rest in the capital’s center of power — the Plaza of the Three Powers built by the Pritzker-prize winning architect Oscar Niemeyer in a style reminiscent of a 1950s vision of the future and are widely viewed domestically as symbols of Brazil.

Vandals and protesters ran amok not only in the halls of Congress, but defiantly waved their national shirts in the air in the main chamber of the Supreme Court, which includes powerful members who are seen as leading opponents of Bolsonaro.

On Sunday, protesters appeared to particularly target the Planalto Palace — the office of the president, and now a symbol of Lula, whose election for a third term only three years after walking out of a prison cell has piqued the ire of the Brazilian right, which has vilified the president.