Brazil’s new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, center, accompanied by his wife, First Lady Rosângela “Janja” da Silva, right, and Brazilian indigenous leader and environmentalist Raoni Metuktire, known as Chief Raoni, later at his inauguration ceremony at the National Congress, in Brasilia, on January 1, 2023. (Sergio Lima/AFP/Getty Images)
Today’s unrest comes a week after the inauguration of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff on October 30 and is now returning to power after a 12-year hiatus.
The elections took place amid a tense and polarized political climate in Brazil, which is grappling with high inflation, limited growth and rising poverty.
In the weeks since Bolsonaro’s defeat, thousands of his supporters have rallied at military headquarters across the country, urging the military to intervene, claiming without any evidence that the elections were stolen.
Former President’s Statements: Bolsonaro claimed that some voting machines failed in the second ballot with Lula. He filed a motion to annul the ballots for the election.
The head of the Brazilian electoral court rejected this request as “ridiculous and illegal” and “obviously conspiratorial towards the democratic constitutional state”.
In his ruling, Alexandre De Moraes, President of the Supreme Electoral Court of Brazil, said that all e-ballot models are “perfectly identifiable in a clear, secure and comprehensive manner.”
Bolsonaro’s government said it would cooperate with the transfer of power, but the far-right leader stopped explicitly acknowledging his electoral defeat and left for the United States ahead of Lula’s inauguration.
Bolsonaro supporters have been camping in the capital ever since. Justice Minister Flavio Dino authorized the armed forces to set up cordons and guard the Congress building due to the continued presence of Bolsonaro supporters on Saturday. But the crowd broke through those defenses on Sunday.
Violence in the past: Violence has continued in Brazil since Bolsonaro refused to explicitly acknowledge his electoral defeat.
A man was arrested in Brasilia after he was caught trying to enter Lula’s inauguration party with a knife and firecrackers, federal district state police said in a statement.
Police also arrested a man on suspicion of planting and possessing explosive devices at Brasilia International Airport.
The suspect, identified as Oliveira Sousa’s 54-year-old George Washington gas station manager, is a supporter of Bolsonaro and told police in a statement seen by CNN that he intended to “create chaos” to prevent Lula from taking office .
Bolsonaro condemned the Sousa bombing and said there was “no justification” for an “act of terrorism”.