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FRANCE 24

Brazil cracks down on pro-Bolsonaro rioters after Congress stormed

Members of the military take down a tent at a camp left by supporters of Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia on January 9, 2023. © Amanda Perobelli, Reuters

Brazilian soldiers backed by police dismantled a camp of supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro in the capital on Monday, a day after rioters launched the worst attack on Brazil's state institutions since its return to democracy in the 1980s. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva joined leaders of both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court chief justice in condemning Sunday's "terrorist acts". Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time [GMT + 1].

This live page is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage of Brazil, click here.

11:30pm: Biden invites Brazil's Lula to visit Washington in early February

US President Joe Biden invited Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to visit Washington in early February, the White House said on Monday after the two leaders spoke by phone about the invasion of government buildings in Brasilia.

Supporters of Brazil's far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday invaded the country's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court, echoing the January 2021 storming of the US Capitol by supporters of former US President Donald Trump.

10:40pm: Demonstrators rally in defence of democracy

Demonstrators are gathering in Sao Paolo and other cities across Brazil to denounce the riots in Brasilia and rally, some carrying banners in defence of Brazilian democracy and its elected leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. 

Demonstrators rally in support of Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Paulo on Monday. © Carla Carniel, Reuters

8:10pm: Bolsonaro hospitalised in Florida with abdominal pain

Jair Bolsonaro's wife has confirmed reports that the former far-right president has been hospitalised with abdominal pain in the US.

Media reports said Bolsonaro had been admitted to AdventHealth Celebration acute care hospital outside Orlando, Florida, where he travelled two days before the end of his term on December 31.

Bolsonaro "is under observation in the hospital, due to abdominal discomfort stemming from the stabbing attack he suffered in 2018", Michelle Bolsonaro wrote on Instagram.

7:45pm: Security forces under scrutiny amid talk of 'bolsonarisation of the police'

As Brazil assesses the damage wreaked by backers of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro on the capital, questions are being asked about the unpreparedness, incompetence, perhaps even complicity of the security forces.

"A tragedy more than foreseeable in Brasilia," was the headline of a column Monday in the daily O Povo, while the Estado de S. Paulo daily deplored "the appalling ease with which the vandals... invaded the places of power in Brasilia in the worst attack on Brazilian democracy since the end of the military dictatorship" of 1964 to 1985.

Social media posts suggest the attack had been carefully planned in advance, bringing the effectiveness of Brazil's intelligence services into serious question. The attitude of the police has also been thrown into doubt, with several videos showing officers filming the storming on their mobile phones rather than intervening.

Image de bureaux saccagés par des supporters de Bolsonaro ©

"One can see on the images that (the bolsonaristas) were guided to the Three Powers Square" by police, President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva charged in a press conference. "The police forces of the Federal District (of Brasilia) have shown incompetence, ill will or bad faith," Lula added.

TV Globo commentator Miriam Leitao blamed what she called the "bolsonarisation of the police forces" starting with Brasilia's public security chief Anderson Torres, who, like Bolsonaro, was in the United States when the riot happened.

6:25pm: 1,200 people detained in wake of Brasilia riots

Police have been dismantling a pro-Bolsonaro encampment outside a military building in Brasilia, the justice ministry said, adding that some 1,200 people have been detained.

Justice Minister Flavio Dino told reporters police have begun tracking those who paid for the buses that transported protesters to the capital.

Officials also said that government buildings were being inspected for evidence including fingerprints and images to hold people to account.

6:05pm: White House says US has received no request from Brazil on Bolsonaro

The United States has not received any official requests from the Brazilian government regarding the status of former president Jair Bolsonaro after his supporters stormed Brazil's Congress, the White House has said.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan, with President Joe Biden for a US-Mexico-Canada summit in Mexico City, told reporters it appeared that democratic institutions in Brazil were holding. He said US officials are not in direct contact with Bolsonaro, who is believed to be in suburban Orlando, Florida.

In a tweet condemning the riots on Sunday, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the US should "cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida".

5:15pm: Leaders of US, Canada, Mexico condemn 'attacks on Brazil's democracy'

The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico have condemned "attacks on Brazil's democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power" after Sunday's riots in Brasilia.

In a joint statement ahead of summit talks in Mexico City, US President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said they "stand with Brazil as it safeguards its democratic institutions".

4:45pm: Sense of 'déjà vu' as Brazil riots echo US Capitol uprising

The rioting by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro that engulfed Brazil's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court on Sunday carries echoes of the US Capitol invasion two years ago by supporters of Bolsonaro's close ally in the US, former president Donald Trump.

FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer looks at the ties between the two former leaders and the similarities in the ways they responded to electoral defeat.

3:20pm: Heads of Brazil's government branches condemn 'terrorist acts'

The heads of Brazil's three branches of government have released a joint statement condemning the "terrorist acts" in Brasilia on Sunday, calling for "serenity and peace".

"We are united so that institutional measures are taken under the terms of Brazilian laws," said the statement by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, acting Senate President Veneziano Vital do Rego, Lower House Speaker Arthur Lira and Chief Justice Rosa Weber.

2:55pm: Security forces gather at pro-Bolsonaro camp in Brasilia

Brazilian security forces have received orders to dismantle a camp of supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro in the capital, a day after rioters stormed Brazil's Congress and other key institutions.

Hundreds of police in riot gear and some on horseback amassed at the encampment near Brasilia's army headquarters, while soldiers in the area withdrew, reporters said.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office on January 1 after a narrow October election win, has promised to bring those responsible for the violence to justice, after demonstrators broke windows and furniture, destroyed art work and stole guns and artefacts in a shocking attack on Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace.

1:30pm: US Democrats denounce 'Trump's legacy' after Brazil riots

Senior Democrats in the US were quick to draw parallels between the unrest in Brasilia and the January 6 Capitol Hill uprising two years ago, blaming US president Donald Trump's legacy for both assaults on democratic institutions.

“Two years since Jan. 6, Trump’s legacy continues to poison our hemisphere,” US Senator Bob Menendez, who chairs the Senate’s foreign relations committee, tweeted, adding that he blamed Bolsonaro for inciting the acts. “Protecting democracy & holding malign actors to account is essential.”

US President Joe Biden tweeted that the riots were an “assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil”, and that he looked forward to continue working with Lula. 

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