Thousands of supporters of far-right former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country's key federal institutions in Brasilia on Sunday in protest against the results of October's presidential election, which brought Bolsonaro's leftist rival President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to power.
In an incident which immediately drew comparisons with the riots in the US Capitol in Washington on 6 January 2021, so-called Bolsonaristas stormed the Brazilian Congress and the Supreme Court and surrounded the presidential palace. They smashed windows, broke furniture, and vandalised paintings; they are also reported to have stolen numerous valuable objects.
The capital's security forces were eventually able to regain control of the buildings after several hours of clashes. 300 people have since been arrested.
The current President, who was inaugurated barely a week ago and is commonly known simply as Lula, vociferously denounced the rioters.
"These vandals, who we would call... fanatical fascists, did what has never been done in the history of this country," Lula said. "Those who did this will be found and they will be punished."
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In a subsequent tweet, Lula condemned the "barbarism" of the protestors who had committed "the most abominable thing in politics", and blamed the incident on the capital's "lack of security".
Global condemnation
Lula's comments were echoed by numerous other world leaders. On Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron claimed that "the will of the Brazilian people and democratic institutions must be respected" and that Lula could "count on the unwavering support of France". Similarly, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that she "strongly condemn[ed] the assault on democracy in Brazil."
The incident was also vehemently denounced by numerous Latin American leaders, including Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Most notably of all, the protests were condemned by Bolsonaro himself, in one of his few public comments since losing October's election.
"Peaceful demonstrations, within the law, form part of democracy," he tweeted. "However, depredations and invasions of public buildings like those that happened today, as well as those carried out by the left in 2013 and 2017, are exceptions to the rule."
Bolsonaro has pointedly refused to explicitly concede defeat to Lula since losing the presidential election. Indeed, prior to the election, he repeatedly questioned the reliability of Brazil's electoral voting system.
Two days before his presidential mandate was set to expire, Bolsonaro, in a further break with presidential protocol, chose to fly out to Florida on holiday rather than hand over the country's president sash to Lula at the latter's inauguration on 1 January.
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The former army captain, who is an open admirer of the country's previous military dictatorship which ruled the country from 1964-1985, frequently referred to the outcome of last October's election in near-apocalyptic terms while he was still in power.
"I have three alternatives for my future: being arrested, killed, or victory," Bolsanaro said in 2021, referring to the 2022 election. "I'm certain that the first alternative, being arrested, won't happen. No man on Earth scares me."
