Bolsonaro supporters storm Brazilian Congress

By Alfonso Serrano, Matt Meyer, Maureen Chowdhury, Mike Hayes, Heather Chen, Sana Noor Haq and Ed Upright, CNN

Updated 8:59 p.m. ET, January 9, 2023
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8:29 p.m. ET, January 8, 2023

Police arrest at least 400 people after the storming of government buildings, governor says

From CNN’s Flora Charner and Pierre Meilhan

Security forces detain a supporter of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro during a demonstration against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, outside Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília, Brazil on Sunday.
Security forces detain a supporter of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro during a demonstration against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, outside Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília, Brazil on Sunday. (Adriano Machado/Reuters)

At least 400 people have been arrested after pro-Bolsonaro supporters stormed key government buildings in Brazil's capital, said Ibaneis Rocha, the governor of the country's Federal District.

Rocha tweeted that those arrested “will pay for the crimes committed."

"We continue working to identify all the others who participated in these terrorist acts this afternoon in the Federal District. We continue to work to restore order,” Rocha added.

Brazil's capital, Brasília, is part of the Federal District. It is home to the country's Congress and Supreme Court buildings, and the presidential palace, which were all stormed Sunday.

7:16 p.m. ET, January 8, 2023

Police: Officers have cleared Brazilian government buildings of protesters and made about 170 arrests

From CNN’s Maija Ehlinger, Rodrigo Pedroso and Marcia Reverdosa

Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as security forces operate outside Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília, Brazil on Sunday.
Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as security forces operate outside Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília, Brazil on Sunday. (Adriano Machado/Reuters)

The three main government buildings — the Supreme Court, the presidential palace and the congressional building — involved in today's breach have been cleared of protesters, police said Sunday, according to CNN Brasil.

At least 170 people have been arrested since pro-Bolsonaro supporters stormed the building, CNN Brasil reports, citing Federal District Civil Police.

A senior government official vowed to punish those involved.

“I'm in the field, walking on the streets and personally commanding the security forces, fulfilling the mission I received from the President of the Republic. Nobody will go unpunished. The democratic rule of law will not be walled up by criminals,” Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Justice Minister Ricardo Cappelli said.

 

7:40 p.m. ET, January 8, 2023

Bolsonaro's party calls it a "sad day for Brazilian nation" after supporters storm government buildings

From CNN's Rodrigo Pedroso

Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília, Brazil on Sunday.
Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília, Brazil on Sunday. (Ton Molina/Fotoarena/Sipa/AP)

“Today is sad day for the Brazilian nation,” Valdemar Costa Neto, head of Jair Bolsonaro´s right-wing Liberal Party, said in a statement after pro-Bolsonaro supporters broke into key government buildings.

“We cannot agree with the depredation of the National Congress. All ordered manifestations are legitimate," the statement continues. "Disorder has never been part of the principles of our nation. I want to say to you that we strongly condemn this type of attitude. And that the law must be fulfilled, strengthening our democracy."

Some context: While the party's candidate has said he would cooperate with the peaceful transition of power, he has also declined to explicitly concede his election loss in October.

The election came amid a tense and polarized political climate in Brazil, which has been struggling with high inflation, limited growth and rising poverty.

In the weeks since Bolsonaro's loss, thousands of his supporters have gathered at military barracks across the country, asking the army to step in as they claim, with no evidence, that the election was stolen.

6:41 p.m. ET, January 8, 2023

Brazilian presidential official shares video of the vandalism in his palace office

From CNN’s Maija Ehlinger and Rodrigo Pedroso

The communications minister for Brazil's president published a video giving a walking tour of his office in the Planalto Palace after pro-Bolsonaro supporters vandalized it on Sunday.

"I'm in my office on the second floor of the Planalto Palace. As you can see everything was destroyed," Paulo Pimenta says in the video. "This is a criminal thing that was done here, this is a revolting thing. Works of art ... Look what the vandals did here, the chaos the vandals made here. Destroyed works of art, the country's heritage."

The video shows furniture overturned and offices along a corridor in disarray. 

Pimenta added that it is "unbelievable what has been done in the Palace. Look at the state of the room, equipment, computers. Look here ... they are marginals, who have to be treated as criminals who did this against democracy and against Brazil."

Watch the clip below:

6:38 p.m. ET, January 8, 2023

Biden issues statement condemning riots in Brazil

In a tweet Sunday, US President Joe Biden condemned supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro after they breached security barriers and gained access to the country’s congressional building, the Supreme Court and the Presidential Palace. 

 

During a visit to the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas earlier Sunday, Biden had called the situation in Brazil, “outrageous.”

8:20 p.m. ET, January 8, 2023

Here's what led up to today's breaches in the Brazilian capital

From CNN staff

Brazil's new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, center, accompanied by his wife First Lady Rosângela "Janja" da Silva, right, and indigenous Brazilian leader and environmentalist Raoni Metuktire, known as Chief Raoni, after his inauguration ceremony at the National Congress, in Brasília, Brazil on January 1, 2023.
Brazil's new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, center, accompanied by his wife First Lady Rosângela "Janja" da Silva, right, and indigenous Brazilian leader and environmentalist Raoni Metuktire, known as Chief Raoni, after his inauguration ceremony at the National Congress, in Brasília, Brazil on January 1, 2023. (Sergio Lima/AFP/Getty Images)

Today's riots come about a week after the inauguration of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election on Oct. 30 and now returns to power after a 12-year hiatus.

The election came amid a tense and polarized political climate in Brazil, which has been struggling with high inflation, limited growth and rising poverty.

In the weeks since Bolsonaro's loss, thousands of his supporters have gathered at military barracks across the country, asking the army to step in as they claim, with no evidence, that the election was stolen.

The former president's claims: Bolsonaro alleged that some voting machines malfunctioned in the runoff contest with Lula. He issued a petition to annul ballots from the election.

The head of Brazil’s electoral court rejected that petition as “ludicrous and illicit” and “ostensibly conspiratorial toward the democratic rule of law.”

In his ruling, Alexandre De Moraes, Chief Justice of the Supreme Electoral Court Alexandre, said all models of electronic ballots were “perfectly identifiable in a clear, secure and integral way.”

Bolsonaro’s administration said it would cooperate with the transition of power, but the far-right leader has stopped short of explicitly conceding his election loss, and he left the country for the United States prior to Lula’s inauguration.

Bolsonaro supporters have been camped out in the capital since then. Justice Minister Flavio Dino authorized the Armed Forces to set up barriers and guard the congressional building Saturday due to the continued presence of Bolsonaro supporters. But the crowd breached those defenses Sunday.

Earlier violence: In the time since Bolsonaro declined to explicitly concede his election loss, there have been other instances of violence in Brazil.

A man was arrested in Brasília after he was caught trying to get into Lula's inauguration party carrying a knife and fireworks, the State Police of the Federal District said in a statement.

Police also arrested a man on suspicion of planting and possessing explosive devices at Brasília International Airport.

The suspect, identified as 54-year-old gas station manager George Washington de Oliveira Sousa, is a Bolsonaro supporter and told police in a statement, seen by CNN, that he intended to “create chaos” so as to prevent Lula from taking office.

Bolsonaro condemned Sousa’s bombing attempt, saying “there is no justification” for a “terrorist act.”

6:19 p.m. ET, January 8, 2023

Brazil's Federal Public Defender calls for arrest of former Federal District Security secretariat

From CNN's Rodrigo Pedroso

Brazilian Federal Public Defender (AGU) asked the country's Supreme Court to issue an arrest order for Federal District Public Security secretariat Anderson Torres and “other public agents responsible for acts and omissions” following the breach of Brazilian federal buildings on Sunday.

Torres, who was the Justice Minister under Former President Jair Bolsonaro, was appointed to the Federal District office by current governor Ibaneis Rocha but was dismissed after Bolsonaro supporters entered the Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace buildings on Sunday. The Federal District is where Brasília is located.

The AGU also requested in a public note the “immediate evacuation of all federal public buildings across the country, and the dissolution of anti-democratic acts carried out in the vicinity of barracks and other military units.”

 

6:16 p.m. ET, January 8, 2023

Spain, Portugal and France express support for Brazilian President Lula da Silva

From CNN’s Al Goodman and Duarte Mendonca

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the union's headquarters in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the union's headquarters in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday. (A. Perez Meca/Europa Press/Getty Images)

Governments from around the world are expressing their support for Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Spain expressed its “unconditional support” to Lula after supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro breached security barriers set up by the Armed Forces on Sunday and gained access to the country’s congressional building, the Supreme Court and the Planalto Presidential Palace.

In a government statement, Spain said: “The Government of Spain expresses its unconditional support for President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, democratically elected by the Brazilian people and proclaimed the legitimate President of the country by the competent electoral bodies of Brazil.”

“We wish to express our rejection of any initiative or attitude that questions the Brazilian democratic process by sectors that do not want to accept the results emanating from the will of the people of Brazil,” the statement concluded. 

Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also expressed his solidarity by tweeting Lula a message of support over the incident. 

“All my support to the president Lula da Silva and to the institutions freely and democratically elected by the Brazilian people,” Sánchez tweeted. 

“We strongly condemn the assault on the Brazilian Congress and call for an immediate return to democratic normality,” he added. 

Portugal's government issued a statement on Sunday condemning "the acts of violence and disorder that took place today in Brasilia."

"The Portuguese government condemns the acts of violence and disorder that took place today in Brasilia, reiterating its unequivocal support to the Brazilian authorities in restoring order and legality," the statement said.

"The Government conveys its full solidarity with the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil, the Congress and the Federal Supreme Court, whose buildings were violated in the anti-democratic demonstrations that took place this afternoon," the statement concluded.

French President Emmanuel Macron joined other world leaders in sending their support to President Lula on Sunday.

“The will of the Brazilian people and democratic institutions must be respected! President Lula da Silva can count on the unconditional support of France,” Macron tweeted.

5:11 p.m. ET, January 8, 2023

Brazilian police arrest protesters inside government buildings

From CNN's Marcia Reverdosa and Rodrigo Pedroso

Brazil's Federal District Military Police (PMDF) have begun dispersing pro-Bolsonaro protesters inside Brasília's government buildings, according to a statement from the PMDF.

Those identified as taking part in "acts of vandalism" are being taken to the police station, the PMDF said.

Approximately 30 protesters have been arrested, according to CNN Brasil, which also aired videos showing buses of arrested protesters.