Supporters of Brazil's defeated Bolsonaro attack police headquarters

Authored by reuters.com and submitted by fruitspunch-samuraiG
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BRASILIA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Supporters of far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday attempted to invade the federal police headquarters in the capital Brasilia, in a flash of post-election violence on the day the president's electoral defeat was certified.

Reuters witnesses saw Bolsonaro supporters, many in their trademark yellow national soccer jerseys or draped in 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 "disturbances" near the headquarters were being handled with support from capital security forces.

The violence unfolded after a Bolsonaro supporter was detained for allegedly organizing violent "anti-democratic acts," according to the judge who ordered his arrest.

Earlier on Monday, the federal electoral court (TSE) certified the Oct. 30 election victory of Bolsonaro's leftist rival, Luiz Inacio 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 has he formally blocked the handover of power.

But some of the president's most diehard supporters have blocked highways in protest and camped out in front of army barracks, calling for a military coup to bar Lula from office.

Hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters gathered outside 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's not going to be an inauguration," said Jose Trindade, 58, one of the Bolsonaro supporters in the crowd. "Bolsonaro was re-elected, but they stole it. So only the army can put things in order."

The conspiracy theories and subsequent violence have rekindled memories of the January 2021 invasion of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump. It also raises security concerns about Jan. 1, when Lula takes office in a public ceremony in Brasilia.

Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, a key Lula aide, said there were concerns about the physical safety of Lula and Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin, as protesters had surrounded the hotel where he is 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 justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered a temporary arrest warrant of indigenous leader Jose Acacio Serere Xavante for alleged anti-democratic acts, in Brasilia, Brazil, December 12, 2022. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino 1 2 3 4 5

Brasilia's public security officials said they had secured the area around Lula's hotel, and urged motorists to avoid the center of the city where many roads had been closed.

The violence in Brasilia came after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has led probes into Bolsonaro and his allies, on Monday ordered the temporary arrest of José Acácio Serere Xavante for allegedly carrying out anti-democratic acts.

Xavante, an indigenous leader, is among the Bolsonaro supporters who have protested in defiance of the Oct. 30 election result.

"I cannot accept criminals reigning in Brasil," Xavante tweeted last month. "Lula cannot be certified."

Last week, Bolsonaro broke weeks of post-election silence to say that his situation "hurts my soul."

"Who decides where I go are you. Who decides which way the armed forces go are you," Bolsonaro told his supporters at the gates of the presidential residence on Friday.

In a statement, the Supreme Court said Moraes "decreed the temporary arrest, for 10 days, of the indigenous José Acácio Serere Xavante, due to evidence of the commission of crimes of threat, persecution and violent abolition of the Democratic State of Law."

It said Xavante had led protests across Brasilia and had used "his position as chief of the Xavante people to enlist indigenous and non-indigenous people to commit crimes," threatening Lula and Supreme Court justices.

Xavante had "expressly summoned armed people to prevent the certification of elected" politicians, the statement added.

Reporting by Ueslei Marcelino and Victor Borges; Additional reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello and Carolina Pulice; Editing by Leslie Adler and Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Youareobscure on December 13rd, 2022 at 07:41 UTC »

"Who decides where I go are you. Who decides which way the armed forces go are you," Bolsonaro told his supporters at the gates of the presidential residence on Friday.

Chilling

yoshida18 on December 13rd, 2022 at 03:48 UTC »

I Live in Brasilia pretty close to the city center where this shit went down (like 2km or so). Around 9 PM I was feeling anxious and exhausted but realized I would have to end up pulling an all nighter at work. I decided to take a walk to get out of my room and eat at some decent restaurant as a motivator. I got home close to 11 PM feeling refreshed and thinking "what a beautiful night". When I sat o my computer I stumbled into crazy shit. Videos of people pushing a bus over a bridge, with a bunch of civilian cars at the road below turning around desperately ignoring everything else, full on driving on the grass and a bunch of police cars going. There is another one that someone is driving a bus that is half on fire in the direction of the police. Crazy stuff. Had I took my walk in a different direction I might have gotten involved in that shitshow.

Honestly, I am tired of this. This weekend I had to go to a neighborhood that is close to the army barracks and had to see a bunch of those imbeciles protesting for a military coup and believing from the bottom of their hearts they have actual legit reasons to do that. This shit in insane, really.

While Lula being elected and the reaction from the institutions in general made us pretty optimistic that democracy would resist, I have no idea how do you deal with brainwashing of that level.

Living this as a person that studied history in college and took a special interest into the history of facism and have to see all this happen right in front of my eyes, quite literally, is a surreal experience. I don't feel I have any hint of sanity left after the last four years.

Just a ramble from a guy who should be working I guess

Chatotorix on December 13rd, 2022 at 02:14 UTC »

Not just a police HQ, the Federal Police HQ.

just far-right terrorists doing terrorist things.