BRAZIL: The day after the far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s electoral defeat became official, followers of the president tried to storm the federal police headquarters in Brazil. All the occurring take place on Monday, December 12, 2022.
On Monday night at Brasilia’s police headquarters, witnesses saw Bolsonaro supporters arguing with security personnel while many were wearing their distinctive yellow national football jerseys or draped in Brazilian flags.
Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the throng, the news agency stated, and surrounding buses and cars were also set on fire.
Capital security personnel were assisting in handling “disturbances” close to the headquarters, federal police added.
Brasilia’s public security secretariat stated that the unrest unfolded when a Supreme Court justice ordered the temporary arrest of an indigenous leader and Bolsonaro supporter, José Acácio Serere Xavante, for allegedly taking part in “anti-democratic acts.”
On early Monday, the federal electoral court (TSE) officially recognised Bolsonaro’s left-leaning opponent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as the winner of the Oct. 30 presidential election.
Bolsonaro has refused to accept since Lula won the election run-off on October 30, and some of his fans have congregated outside military facilities across the nation to call for the armed forces to step in.
After Lula and his vice president were declared the winners of the hotly contested election on Monday, fighting broke out.
Flavio Dino, who will serve as Lula’s Minister of Justice and Public Security, criticised the vandalism and attempted takeover of the Federal Police building in Brasilia.
At the event confirming his electoral victory, Lula—whose inauguration is set for January 1—broke down in tears.
One of the Bolsonaro fans in the audience, Jose Trindade, aged 58, declared, “There won’t be an inauguration. They stole Bolsonaro’s reelection, though. Therefore, only the military can put things in order.”
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro hasn’t admitted defeat outright, but he has given the go-ahead for the transition process.
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