RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – “No amnesty! No amnesty! No amnesty!”
The chant echoed off the walls of the packed room at the University of Sao Paulo Law School on Monday afternoon. In a few hours, it was the rallying cry of thousands of Brazilians who took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, written on posters and protest banners.
The words are a demand for retribution against supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro who stormed Brazil’s capital on Sunday, and those who allowed the uproar.
“These people must be punished, the people who ordered this must be punished, those who gave money for this must be punished,” said Bety Amin, a 61-year-old therapist, on São Paulo’s main boulevard. The word “DEMOCRACY” stretched across the back of his shirt. “They do not represent Brazil. We represent Brazil.”
The protesters’ push for accountability evokes memories of an amnesty law that has for decades protected soldiers accused of abuse and murder during the country’s 1964-85 dictatorship. A 2014 truth commission report sparked debate about how Brazil has grappled with the regime’s legacy.
Refusing to apply punishments “may avoid tensions at the moment, but it perpetuates instability,” Luis Felipe Miguel, a professor of political science at the University of Brasilia, wrote in a column titled “No Amnesty” published late Monday. “This is the lesson we should have learned from the end of the military dictatorship, when Brazil chose not to punish the regime’s murderers and torturers.”
On the same day, Brazilian police arrested approximately 1,500 rioters. Some were caught in the act of vandalizing Brazil’s Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace. Most were arrested the next morning in a camp in Brasilia. Many took place in a gym throughout the day, and video shared on pro-Bolsonaro social media channels showed them complaining about mistreatment in the crowded space.
Almost 600 elderly, sick, homeless people or mothers with their children were released on Tuesday after being questioned and having their phones inspected, the Federal Police said in a statement. His press office previously told The Associated Press that the force plans to charge at least 1,000 people. As of Tuesday afternoon, 527 people had been transferred to a detention center or prison.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration says jailing rioters is just the beginning.
Justice Minister Flávio Dino vowed to prosecute those who acted behind the scenes to summon supporters on social media and finance their transport with organized crime charges, stage a coup d’état and violently abolish the democratic rule of law . Authorities are also investigating allegations that local security personnel allowed the destruction to continue unabated.
“We cannot and do not want to compromise on the fulfillment of our legal duties,” said Dino. “This compliance is essential so that these events are not repeated.”
Lula signed a decree, now approved by both houses of Congress, ordering the federal government to assume control of security in the capital.
Far-right elements have refused to accept Bolsonaro’s electoral defeat. Since their loss on October 30, they have camped outside military barracks in Brasilia, calling for intervention to allow Bolsonaro to stay in power and oust Lula. When no coup materialized, they rose up themselves.
Decked out in the green and yellow of the national flag, they smashed windows, toppled furniture and threw computers and printers to the floor. They punched holes in a massive painting by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti in the presidential palace and destroyed other works of art. They overturned the U-shaped table where Supreme Court justices meet, tore off a door of a justice’s office and vandalized a statue outside the courthouse. Hours passed before the police cleared the crowd.
“What happened yesterday is unacceptable. It’s terrorism,” said Marcelo Menezes, a 59-year-old police officer from the northeastern state of Pernambuco, at a protest in São Paulo. “I’m here in defense of democracy, I’m here in defense of the people” .
Cries of “No amnesty!” they were also heard during Lula’s inaugural address on January 1, in response to the president detailing the negligence of the outgoing Bolsonaro administration.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has waxed nostalgic about the days of the dictatorship, hailed a notorious torturer as a hero and said the regime should have gone further in executing communists . His government also marked the anniversary of Brazil’s 1964 coup d’état.
Political analysts had repeatedly warned that Bolsonaro was laying the groundwork for an insurrection in the mold of the one in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. For months, he fueled the belief among die-hard supporters that the nation’s electronic voting system was prone to fraud, though he never presented any evidence and independent experts disagreed.
The election results, the closest since Brazil’s return to democracy, were quickly recognized by politicians across the spectrum, including some Bolsonaro allies, as well as dozens of other governments. The outgoing president surprised almost everyone by quickly disappearing, without conceding defeat or crying emphatically fraud. He and his party filed a request to annul millions of votes, which was quickly dismissed by the electoral authority.
None of this deterred his staunch supporters from their belief that Bolsonaro should still be in power.
Immediately after the riot, Lula said that so-called “fascist fanatics” and their financial backers must be held accountable. He also accused Bolsonaro of encouraging the uprising.
Bolsonaro denied the president’s accusation on Sunday. Writing on Twitter, he said that peaceful protest is part of democracy, but vandalism and the invasion of public buildings cross the line.
Authorities are also investigating the role of the Federal District Police in failing to stop the advance of the protesters or in pushing them aside. Prosecutors in the capital said local security forces were, to say the least, negligent. A Supreme Court judge temporarily suspended the regional governor, who oversees the force, for what he called a “willful omission” and issued pre-trial detention orders for the former heads of the security secretariat and military police, as well as searches of their residences.
Another justice blamed the authorities throughout Brazil for not quickly cracking down on “proper neo-fascism”.
The upheaval eventually prompted municipal and state governments to disperse the pro-Bolsonaro camps outside the military barracks. Their tents and tarps were removed and residents were sent packing.
Meanwhile, pro-democracy protesters want to ensure their message: “No amnesty!” — will be listened to by law enforcement authorities as much as by any far-right element who may dare to challenge democracy again.
“After what happened yesterday, we have to take to the streets,” said Marcos Gama, a pensioner protesting Monday night in Sao Paulo. “We have to react.”
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AP video journalist Mello reported from São Paulo. AP writer Carla Bridi contributed from Salvador.