BRASILIA, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Supporters of Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro tried to storm federal police headquarters in the capital Brasília on Monday, in a flash of post-election violence on the day election defeat was confirmed of the president
Reuters witnesses saw supporters of Bolsonaro, many wearing his iconic yellow national soccer jerseys or with Brazilian flags, confronting security forces at police headquarters. Police fired stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Nearby buses and cars were set on fire.
Federal police said the “disturbances” near the headquarters were being dealt with with the support of the capital’s security forces.
The violence unfolded after a Bolsonaro supporter was arrested for allegedly organizing violent “anti-democratic acts”, according to the judge who ordered his detention.
Earlier Monday, the federal electoral court (TSE) certified the October 30 election victory of Bolsonaro’s leftist rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as president. After months of baseless suggestions that Brazil’s voting system is vulnerable to fraud, Bolsonaro has neither conceded defeat to Lula nor formally blocked the transfer of power.
But some of the president’s staunchest supporters have blocked roads in protest and camped outside army barracks, calling for a coup to bar Lula from office.
Hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters gathered in front of the presidential residence on Monday afternoon with banners calling for “military intervention”. The president joined them for a public prayer, but did not address the crowd.
“There will be no inauguration,” said Jose Trindade, 58, one of Bolsonaro’s supporters in the crowd. “Bolsonaro was re-elected, but he was robbed. So only the army can bring order.”
Conspiracy theories and subsequent violence have rekindled memories of the January 2021 invasion of the US Capitol by supporters of former US President Donald Trump. It also raises security concerns about January 1, when Lula takes office in a public ceremony in Brasilia.
Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, a key Lula aide, said there were concerns for the physical safety of Lula and Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin, as protesters had surrounded the hotel where he was staying in Brasilia. Lula’s team denied reports that Lula would be removed from the hotel by helicopter.
[1/14] A police officer fires a shotgun as supporters of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro protest after Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered a temporary arrest warrant for indigenous leader Jose Acacio Serere Xavante for alleged anti-democratic acts, in Brasilia, Brazil. on December 12, 2022. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Public security officials in Brasilia said they had secured the area around Lula’s hotel and urged motorists to avoid the city center where many roads had been closed.
TRIGGERED BY ARREST
The violence in Brasilia came after Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, who has led investigations into Bolsonaro and his allies, on Monday ordered the temporary detention of José Acácio Serere Xavante for allegedly committing anti-democratic acts.
Xavante, an indigenous leader, is among Bolsonaro’s supporters who have protested in defiance of the October 30 election result.
“I cannot accept that criminals rule in Brazil,” Xavante tweeted last month. “Lula cannot be certified.”
Last week, Bolsonaro broke weeks of post-election silence to say his situation “hurts my soul.”
“You decide where I go. You decide where the armed forces go,” Bolsonaro told supporters at the gates of the presidential residence on Friday.
In a statement, the Supreme Court said that Moraes “ordered the temporary detention, for 10 days, of the indigenous José Acácio Serere Xavante, for proof of the commission of crimes of threat, persecution and violent abolition of the State Democrat of Law”.
He said Xavante had led protests in Brasilia and had used “his position as head of the Xavante people to recruit indigenous and non-indigenous people to commit crimes,” threatening Lula and Supreme Court judges.
Xavante had “expressly summoned armed people to prevent the certification of elected politicians”, the statement added.
Report by Ueslei Marcelino and Victor Borges; Additional reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello and Carolina Pulice; Editing by Leslie Adler and Stephen Coates
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