About 1,500 people have been arrested in Brazil following supporters of the former president, Jair Bolsonaro, stormed the Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court.
The riots came a week following the president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was sworn in.
Lula condemned the “terrorist acts” and vowed to punish the perpetrators.
Bolsonaro did not concede defeat and traveled to the United States before the inauguration ceremony. Unconfirmed reports say he is in a Florida hospital.
The new president, widely known as Lula, and the heads of Congress and the Supreme Court said they “reject terrorist acts, criminal subversion and coup-mongering” during the riots.
Thousands of demonstrators, dressed in yellow Brazilian soccer jerseys and flags, stormed police barricades.
Lula was forced to declare a state of emergency.
On Monday morning, heavily armed officers began dismantling a camp of Bolsonaro supporters in Brasilia, one that has been set up outside army barracks across the country since the October elections.
The authorities arrested 1,200 people on Monday, in addition to the 300 arrested the day before.
The Minister of Justice, Flavio Dino, said that regarding 40 buses were confiscated that were used to transport the demonstrators to the capital.
Bolsonaro condemned the attack and denied responsibility for encouraging the rioters in a post on Twitter regarding six hours following the violence erupted.
The Supreme Court removed Brasilia’s governor, Ibañes Rocha, from office for 90 days.
Judge Alexandre de Morais accused him of failing to prevent the riots and of maintaining a “painful silence” in the face of the attack. Rocha has apologized for Sunday’s events.
A video shared by O Globo showed some officers laughing and taking pictures as protesters occupied Congress in the background.
Some of the demonstrators smashed windows, while others reached the Senate chamber, jumping on its seats.
The demonstrators had gathered since the morning in front of Parliament and a kilometer from Esplanada Street, which is lined with ministries and a number of institutions.
Despite the protesters’ behavior, in the hours leading up to the chaos, security seemed tight, with roads blocked off regarding a block around Parliament District and armed police guarding all entrances to the area.
What do the protesters want?
Protesters rushed to defend their actions when contacted by reporters.
“We need to bring order back following this rigged election,” said Lima, a 27-year-old production engineer.
“I am here for history, for my daughters,” she told AFP.
Others in the capital expressed outrage at the violence and said the attack marked a sad day for the country.
“I voted for Bolsonaro but I don’t agree with what they’re doing,” Daniel Lacerda, 21, told the BBC. “If you don’t agree with the president, you just have to say it and move on, you shouldn’t have protests and all the violence like they do.”
Many compare the storming of the Brazilian Congress to the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump, an ally of Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro’s supporters have set up camps in cities across Brazil, some on the outskirts of military barracks, because his most ardent supporters want the army to intervene and hold elections instead of the ones they say were stolen.
Their movements seemed to have been checked by Lula’s installation, the camps in Brasília were dismantled and there was no disturbance on the day he was sworn in.
But Sunday’s scenes show those predictions were premature.
And some of the protesters are not only angry that Bolsonaro lost the election, they want President Lula to go back to prison.
Lula spent 18 months in prison following being convicted of corruption in 2017. His conviction was later overturned, following he was initially sentenced to more than nine years.
World heads of state condemned the violence, with the leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico issuing a joint statement on Monday condemning “attacks on Brazilian democracy and the peaceful transfer of power.”
Other countries that have condemned the rioters’ actions include Colombia, Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Turkey.
