Protests in Brazil on the night of January 8-9, 2023
Photo: REUTERS
In the capital of Brazil, the federal district of Brasilia, there is an attempted coup. Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, more than two months after the second round of the presidential elections, in which his favorite lost to the socialist Lulu da Silva, decided to forcefully change these results.
According to Correio Brasilense, a group of Bolsonaristas broke into the National Congress building. Photos of the scene show that we are talking about at least several hundred people. Most wear yellow national soccer team jerseys; since the elections, this uniform has become a distinctive symbol of the followers of Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazilian publications also write that the protesters seized the Supreme Court and the Planalto Palace, the official residence of the head of state. The police could not contain the pressure of the crowd. The current president, Lulu da Silva, has been evacuated. Among the protesters, signs were seen calling on the country’s armed forces to stand with the people and liberate Brazil from communism.
So far, the protests in Brazil against the electoral results have not been very noticeable. Bolsonaro’s supporters tried to block roads and set up tent cities, but fell short of serious action. In addition, Jair Bolsonaro himself admitted his defeat and said that “as a citizen, he will follow the letter of the Constitution.”
On January 1, the official inauguration ceremony for Lulu da Silva was held. From Russia, the President of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko attended. President Vladimir Putin also congratulated da Silva on taking office.
The 2022 elections in Brazil were one of the most unpredictable in the history of this country, since the right-wing nationalist Jair Bolsonaro and the socialist Lulu Da Silva coincided in the second round (it should be noted that he had already been the president of Brazil before, He was later jailed, but two years later, he was released early and all corruption charges were dropped). The gap between the two candidates was less than 2%.
It is symbolic that the attempt to seize power in Brazil comes almost exactly two years after the famous capture of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when supporters of Donald Trump tried to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the same way. However, they never achieved their goals. Many of the protesters were later sentenced to prison terms and some were killed when the police evacuated the Capitol.
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Chaos, smoke, angry crowd: photos and video of the captured presidential palace and other government buildings in Brazil
Supporters of the former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, during the protests seized the Congress building in the Brazilian capital, the presidential palace and other administrative buildings (details)
