Brazil probes anti-democratic riots as world leaders condemn attacks

GBNEWS24DESK//

Brazil’s Supreme Court removed the governor of Brasilia from office for 90 days over security failings that it said allowed thousands of backers of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro to ransack government buildings in the capital.

Tens of thousands of anti-democratic demonstrators on Sunday invaded the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace in the worst attack on Brazil’s institutions since democracy was restored four decades ago, drawing global condemnation.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office on Jan. 1 after a narrow October election win, promised to bring those responsible to justice, after demonstrators broke windows and furniture, destroyed art work and stole the original 1988 Constitution. Guns were seized from a presidential security office.

As well as removing the Brasilia governor for 90 days late on Sunday, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and TikTok to block accounts of users spreading anti-democratic propaganda.

Lula, a leftist president, said the local militarized police force that reports to Brasilia Governor Ibaneis Rocha, a former Bolsonaro ally, did nothing to stop the protesters advancing.

Lula decreed federal intervention of public security in the capital and promised exemplary punishment for the leaders of the “fascist” assault that was aimed at provoking a military coup that could restore Bolsonaro to power.

“All the people who did this will be found and punished,” Lula told reporters from Sao Paulo State.

Lula blamed Bolsonaro for inflaming his supporters after a campaign of baseless allegations about election fraud after the end of his rule marked by divisive nationalist populism.

From Florida, where Bolsonaro flew 48 hours before his term ended, the former president rejected the accusation. He said on Twitter that peaceful demonstrations were democratic but the invasion of government buildings “crossed the line.”