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The fallout from the attack was swift. The country’s top court overnight ordered the governor of Brasília, Ibaneis Rocha, to be suspended for 90 days, accusing him and Brasília’s head of public security of abetting the assault on the capital.
“Absolutely NOTHING justifies the secretary of public security and the governor of the federal district’s omission and coexistence with criminals who had previously announced they would conduct violent acts against constitutional powers,” Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes wrote in his decision.
Rocha had apologized to Lula in a video address earlier on Sunday.
“First, I’d like to address President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to apologize for what happened today in our city,” he said, before calling the riots unacceptable. “We did not think the protests would gain the momentum they did,” he said.
Rocha tweeted earlier in the day that more than 400 people had been arrested and that authorities were working to identify any others who were involved in what he described as “terrorist acts” in the capital.
Lula’s government also summoned governors from across Brazil — Latin America’s largest nation by area and population — for a special meeting in the wake of the attack, according to local media, as protests in four states blocked highways.
Across the world, leaders voiced their support for Lula and condemned the riots as an attack against democracy.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz referred to “terrible images” from Brazil and said “violent attacks on the democratic institutions are an assault on democracy that cannot be tolerated.” President Alberto Fernández of Argentina said he and the country had “unconditional support” for Lula “in the face of this coup attempt that he is facing.”
President Biden said, “Brazil’s democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined.”
The attack drew numerous comparisons to the one waged on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump — Bolsonaro’s political role model — on Jan. 6, 2021. Though the insurrection in Brasília was broader — attacking not just the legislature but three branches of government — there were no reports of deaths in the hours afterward. Brazil’s Congress and Supreme Court are in recess, and no lawmakers or judges were present. Five people died during or immediately after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Still, the similarities were notable: Like Trump, Bolsonaro complained that his loss was unfair. The two have also spent time since their presidencies in Florida, where Bolsonaro had been staying in the past week.
And in both cases, social media played a role in rallying protesters to action.
“In advance of the election, we designated Brazil as a temporary high-risk location and have been removing content calling for people to take up arms or forcibly invade Congress, the Presidential palace and other federal buildings,” Meta said in a statement. “We’re also designating this as a violating event, which means we will remove content that supports or praises these actions.”
The insurrection in Brasília came a week after Lula was inaugurated. He previously served two terms as Brazil’s president in the 2000s and narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff election in October.
Following the chaos Sunday, Lula accused his predecessor of stoking the situation by repeatedly questioning the integrity of the electoral process. Bolsonaro disputed Lula’s claims. The former president defended lawful public protests as “part of democracy,” but he said “invasions of public buildings” were “outside of the law.”
Anthony Faiola and Marina Lopes contributed to this report.
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