Alexa Abano '25
On January 8, 2023, a mob of supporters for the defeated Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, attacked Brazil’s federal government buildings in the capital Brasilia. They invaded and vandalized the Supreme Federal Court, National Congress Building, and the Planalto presidential palace, trying to overthrow the newly elected President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was elected January 1.
In the election, Lula beat Bolsonaro, securing 51% of the votes. He promised to unify the country since the campaign deepened the division.
“Bolsonaro supporters set fire to cars in the central region of Brasília on the day Lula was certified and a bomb was found in a fuel truck in the vicinity of the city’s international airport in late December,” says the Washington Post.
“The attack occurred a week after Lula's inauguration and followed several weeks of unrest from Bolsonaro's supporters. It took more than five hours for the Brazilian security forces to clear all three buildings of the rioters, which happened at 21:00, Brazilian time.”
The rioters roamed around for approximately three hours, and the members of the military police started to clear the buildings. The area was finally clear of all the rioters after over four hours. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was in Sao Paulo, gave a very angry speech that declared an emergency intervention in the federal district government.
“He vowed that those who participated in the riot or helped finance the event would be punished and denounced Bolsonaro as its cause,” the Washington Post reports.
After the election, Bolsonaro never had a direct reaction to the results, but he wasn't exactly accepting it. He made sure that everyone knew that he would not participate in the inauguration, refusing tradition.
“Two days before the end of the year, Bolsonaro left for the US, settling in a condominium in Florida, leading Lula’s supporters to charge that he was seeking to escape from several investigations that had already begun against him,” says the Washington Post.
A number of investigations were discussed immediately after the invasion. The district police were already registering the hundreds of people arrested in the riot. The police and the federal highway police are investigating the funds of the buses that took rioters from other states and are looking into who may have helped Bolsonaro’s supporters camp in front of army headquarters for so long.
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