Jair Bolsonaro Responds to Supporters Ransacking Brazil’s Top Government Offices
AP Photo/Eraldo Peres
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro responded to the attack that his supporters perpetrated against several of the government’s top offices on Sunday.
In a scene that has been described as reminiscent of the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol, Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed Brazil’s presidential palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court on Sunday to protest what they falsely claim was a rigged election. Brazil’s security forces are reestablishing control over the top seats of government. Amid the violence, Bolsonaro’s supporters have been echoing his own claims that Brazil’s election systems are fraudulent.
Bolsonaro has refused to partake in Brazil’s transfer of power to his successor and is currently renting a house in Orlando, Florida. As Bolsonaro faced pressure to respond to the actions taken by his supporters, he released a social media statement on Sunday night.
Peaceful demonstrations, in the form of the law, are part of democracy. However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule. Throughout my mandate, I have always been within the four lines of the Constitution, respecting and defending the laws, democracy, transparency and our sacred freedom.
In addition, I repudiate the accusations, without evidence, attributed to me by the current head of the executive of Brazil.
Bolsonaro was responding to the news conference that his successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, held out of Sao Paulo state. The Associated Press reports that Lula accused Bolsonaro of encouraging the uprising by “fascist fanatics,” and he read off a new decree for the federal government to take control of security around their top offices.
Lula has also released his own social media statement wherein the translation carries his promise that the coup plotters are “being identified and will be punished.”
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