In what was clearly a planned action, at about 3:00 pm local time, hundreds of backers of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stormed three federal buildings in the capital of Brasilia—the Supreme Court, the Congress and the Planalto Presidential palace—with little resistance from police, who appeared to be overwhelmed. Eventually, anti-riot police and military police entered the buildings to confront those inside, who were smashing windows, vandalizing and looting offices. Videos show masses of people dressed in green and yellow shirts participating in the rampage.
President Lula da Silva was not in Brasilia at the time, but was outraged at what happened. He placed Federal Security forces in charge of security in the capital until Jan. 31, charging that those who had been in charge of security had allowed “fascists” and “fanatics” to wreak havoc, Reuters reported him saying. “These vandals, who we could call fanatical Nazis, fanatical Stalinists… fanatical fascists, did what has never been done in the history of this country,” he said. “All the people who did this will be found and will be punished.” Investigations were ordered into the financiers of the operation. As of this writing, 150 people have been arrested.
This whole operation has the stench of Steve Bannon all over it. Indicative of the planning, eighty buses of Bolsonaristas had arrived in Brasilia on Saturday evening, Jan. 7 and were milling around in the vicinity of the government buildings, singing and shouting about “Lula the thief who should be in prison,” and calling for a military coup. The camps of Bolsonaro supporters set up in front of Army headquarters in Brasilia two months ago had not been dismantled, and private cars entering the capital on Saturday evening were being directed to the area of the encampments.
And on the evening of Jan. 6, groups of Bolsonaristas took over streets in the city of Sao Paulo, also demanding military action against President Lula. Security forces also received reports that Bolsonaro supporters were planning to block refineries in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
