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Protesters in Brazil Destroy Government Buildings

by VOA News

   Brazilian officials say they have arrested at least 200 supporters of
   former President Jair Bolsonaro who ransacked the Supreme Court,
   Congress and the presidential palace in Brasilia on Sunday.

   Thousands of demonstrators swarmed the buildings. Video of the assault
   on the government properties show the protesters smashing windows,
   climbing roofs and other destructive activities. The Associated Press
   reported that the buildings' interiors were left in states of ruin.

   Brazilian authorities said they intend to hold the protestors
   accountable and will inspect the building for fingerprints and will
   look at images taken during the destruction.

   Justice minister Flavio Dino said the government also will seek to find
   out who paid for the several hundred buses that transported the rioters
   to Brasilia.

   Bolsonaro's supporters want him reinstated and have called for the
   military to stage a coup. He lost the recent presidential election to
   former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who was sworn into office a
   week ago.

   Balsonaro left Brazil before Lula's inauguration and has been staying
   in Orlando in the southern U.S. state of Florida.

   The protesters' invasion of the Brazilian government buildings echoed
   the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
   However, unlike in Washington, where lawmakers were in session on
   January 6, the buildings in Brasilia were largely vacant.

   A strong police or military presence was also absent despite advance
   warnings that Bolsonaro's supporters planned to descend on the
   buildings.

   There is no precedent for what they did, and these people need to be
   punished," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Sunday.

   U.S. President Joe Biden said the riots in Brazil were "outrageous."

   Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, posted on Twitter
   that the U.S. "condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil."

   Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopex Obrador said, "the coup attempt
   by the Brazilian conservatives urged on by the leadership of oligarchic
   power, their spokespersons and fanatics, is reprehensible and
   undemocratic. Lula is not alone, he has the support of the progressive
   forces of his country, Mexico, the American continent, and the world."

   "The violent attacks on democratic institutions are an attack on
   democracy that cannot be tolerated," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
   posted on Twitter. He said that Germany stands behind Brazil's current
   president.

   Tamara Taraciuk Broner, acting director of Human Rights Watch's
   Americas Division, said, "police and the attorney general office need
   to investigate not just those who committed acts of violence, but those
   who incited and financed them. Those responsible for this extremely
   serious attack on Brazil's democratic institutions should be held
   accountable."

   Amnesty International called for "the relevant authorities to conduct
   prompt, impartial and effective investigations so that the acts of this
   Sunday, 8 January, are appropriately investigated and sanctioned."