Fanatical supporters of Brazil’s outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro have set fire to cars and buses and tried to storm federal police headquarters in the country’s capital in what one commentator called a failed attempt to provoke a of January 6.
Violence broke out on Monday evening after the left-wing politician who defeated Bolsonaro in October’s historic election, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had his victory officially ratified by Brazil’s electoral court.
Police clash with supporters of Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia on Monday. Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
Several hours later, hard-line Bolsonarians who want the result overturned swept through the heart of Brasilia, after a member of their radical group was arrested for allegedly trying to incite violence that would prevent Lula from being sworn in on January 1 .
Reuters said witnesses saw extremists, many wearing Brazil’s yellow shirts symbolizing the president’s far-right movement, confronting security forces outside a federal police headquarters. Police used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Images posted on social media by onlookers and local journalists showed Bolsonaro’s militants setting fire to a bus.
“Downtown Brasilia…looks like a war zone,” tweeted Alan Rios, a reporter for local news website Metropoles, along with images of the destruction. “Buses and cars on fire, buildings and signposts destroyed, garbage cans and gas canisters littering the ground after being used as weapons,” Rios wrote.
The central area of Brasilia, near hotels and the TV Tower, becomes a war scene
Buses and cars burned, buildings and signs destroyed, trash cans and even gas cylinders thrown on the ground after being used as a weapon pic.twitter.com/LDzjAEMdtO
— Alan Rios (@alanriossr) December 13, 2022
Political commentator Thomas Traumann tweeted his condemnation, saying: “Bolsonarism has gone from a far-right popular movement to a terrorist cell.”
“It’s an attempt [replicating] the Capitol,” Traumann added, referring to the storming of the US legislature by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021. “It won’t work, but it’s an attempt.”
The outbreak of violence, which had reportedly subsided by Tuesday morning, has fueled fears of more unrest ahead of Lula’s inauguration. Hundreds of thousands of fans are expected to attend the event, which will feature some of Brazil’s best-known artists, including Pabllo Vittar, Paulinho da Viola, Martinho da Vila and Maria Rita.
Supporters of Bolsonaro clash with military police in Brasilia on Monday. Photograph: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images
The man Lula has named as his future justice minister, Flávio Dino, tried to reassure Brazilians on Monday night, telling reporters: “There are, unfortunately, people who want undemocratic and illegal chaos ? Yes there are. But these people did not prevail today and they will not prevail tomorrow.”