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Last Sunday, thousands of supporters of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro (67) stormed the Brazilian Congress, the Supreme Court and the Presidential Palace.
For around five hours last Sunday, thousands of supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (67) stormed all three instances of the Brazilian government – Congress, the Supreme Court and the Presidential Palace. They overwhelmed the security forces and demanded the overthrow of leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (77).
The violence has shocked the country. How did so many people manage to break into some of the country’s most heavily secured buildings with little resistance? The question arises whether the security forces tasked with protecting the area were simply overwhelmed or whether they even actively supported the demonstrators.
For President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the case is clear. “The Brasilia police neglected the attack threat, the Brasilia secret service neglected it,” Lula claimed a day after the siege. “There was an explicit agreement between the police and the demonstrators.”
The secret service is said to have known about the protest plans
However, the Brazilian President emphasizes that he does not see the events of January 8 as a “coup” but as a “minor matter, a gang of madmen who have not realized that the election is over.” Nevertheless, it is important to clarify: How could all this happen? A report by CNN now gives insights into how the protest could escalate.
Accordingly, the protests on Sunday are said to have been organized openly on the Internet days before. The Brazilian secret service apparently also got wind of the matter. Telegram conversations viewed by CNN show that Bolsonaro supporters communicated their intentions to storm the Brazilian Congress as early as January 5.
One post mentions plans to use cellphone app Zello. In fact, it can be used like a walkie-talkie in the event that the internet is interrupted. The same app was previously used by some rioters in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Brazil’s intelligence agency said it had warned the government and the Brasilia district government before January 8 that the protests would be large and violent, CNN Brasil reports.
Police officers were overrun
The secret service relied on a warning from the Brazilian transport authority, according to which an unusually large number of buses had been chartered to Brasilia. Both Justice Minister Flávio Dino (54) and the now suspended Governor of Brasilia, Ibaneis Rocha (51), an ally of Bolsonaro, were informed, according to the news service.
Despite the warnings, Rocha told the Metropoles on January 7 that the protest would take place on the Esplanade – a lawn surrounded by government buildings that leads directly to the seats of Brazilian power.
When the demonstrators took to the streets in droves a day later on January 8, as planned, they encountered little resistance. When the riots began on January 8, only 365 MPs were deployed in the area.
At around 2:25 p.m. local time, the military police tried to stop the demonstrators at the esplanade of the ministries along the Eixo Monumental – without success. They were quickly overrun by the demonstrators, who broke through the barricades. Although the police tried to stop some rioters with pepper spray, this method also proved useless.
Five hours of pure chaos
A good 20 minutes later, around 2:45 p.m. local time, the crowd arrived in front of the congress. Various videos show how some federal and military police units continued to try to block the way for the Bolsonaristas. Since the barricades were gone, they had an easy time. Eventually the police saw it too. Some began to watch the scene passively. One even filmed the protesters climbing onto the roof of the convention.
After President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva finally authorized federal police intervention around 6 p.m. local time, another 2,913 officers were called in, a spokesman for the federal executive district told CNN.
Around 7 p.m. local time, after several hours of pure chaos, the police and army finally managed to bring the situation under control. The crowd poured from the roof of the congress and left the government building. (ced)
State of emergency in Brazil: Here demonstrators drag a police officer from his horse(00:37)