OAN Roy Francis
UPDATED 12:00 PM PT – Monday, January 9, 2023
In protest to the recent presidential election that took place in Brazil, supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stormed several Capital buildings on Sunday.
Thousands of protesters had stormed the Capital in Brazil, claiming that the election had been stolen a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva. Some of the buildings that were affected were the Presidential Palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court.
Protestors descended on the government buildings, they had breached them, and climbed the rooftops waving the national Brazilian flag.
The buildings had been mostly vacant as the protests took place.
By Sunday evening, riot police had taken back control of the buildings. According to reports, around 1,200 people were arrested on Sunday night for their involvement.
President Lula, who was in Sao Paulo at the time, had vowed that demonstrators will face severe consequences. He said that there was no “precedent in the history of our country” for the events that took place. In addition, he also denounced the protest as “acts of vandals and fascists.”
He went on to accuse the security forces of mishandling the riots, saying that they were acting “in bad faith or malice.”
“You will see in the images that [police officers] are guiding people on the walk to Praca dos Tres Powers,” he said. “We are going to find out who the financiers of these vandals who went to Brasilia are, and they will all pay with the force of law.”
The Brazilian President accused Blosonaro of enticing the riots with his rhetoric, and condemned him.
Bolsonaro on the other hand had condemned the riots, saying that although peaceful demonstrations are part of democracy, what is taking place is not. He went on to compare what is happening now to the riots that took place in Brazil in 2013 and 2017.
“Peaceful demonstrations, within the law, are part of democracy. However, vandalism and the invasion of public buildings like today’s acts, and like those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, are an exception,” he wrote in a statement.
The former president denied any part in inciting the riots, he had also declined to attend Lula’s inauguration.
The White House National Security Advisor released a statement on the situation saying that “the United States condemns any efforts to undermine democracy in Brazil.”
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) had called on Bolsonaro to be extradited back to Brazil due to the recent events.
Democrat Representatives Joaquin Castro (D-Texas.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Mark Takano (D-Calif.), also voiced their support for having the former Brazilian President extradited.
President Biden released a statement regarding the situation in Brazil. He stated that he is looking forward to working with President Lula.
He has not commented on the pressure from the various Democrats to extradite Bolsonaro.
The Former Brazilian President was admitted to the hospital in Florida due to severe abdominal pain on Monday morning.
Bolsonaro has had occasional strong episodes of abdominal pain, including occlusion, since he was stabbed at a campaign event in Juiz de Fora in 2018.