Following the invasion of Brazil’s Congress and presidential palace, around 1,500 Jair Bolsonaro supporters were detained.
It happened as Bolsonaro, who was suffering from abdominal pain, was admitted to a Florida hospital after he lost the country’s October election.
Michelle Bolsonaro posted on Instagram: “My dear friends, I am writing to inform you that Jair Bolsonaro has been admitted to the hospital due to abdominal discomfort following the 2018 stab wound received from a PSOL [Socialism and Liberty Party] member.
We are praying for Brazil’s health and his well-being. God bless us.
After the storming at the Capitol, Bolsonaro supporters had settled in a camp near Brasilia’s Army Headquarters. Police started dismantling the tents. Today’s 1,200 arrests, along with Sunday’s 300, bring the total to 1,500.
Rioters sought military intervention in order to either restore Mr Bolsonaro’s far-right power or to oust Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, a leftist who won the election with only 50.9% of votes.
Witnesses said that mounted police and heavily armed officers were seen standing in front of the camp Monday with some protesters praying on their knees.
Many thousands of protesters, many dressed in the yellow and red of the Brazil flag, fled Congress, the Presidential Palace, and the Supreme Court, leaving behind a mess of destruction.
Windows were broken, furniture fell, doors were ripped off their hinges and computers and printers were thrown to ground. A massive Emiliano di Cavalcanti painting was punctured in five spots, striking similarities with the insurrection at US Capitol two years earlier.
Brazilian news channel GloboNews reported that all the buildings were retaken now by security forces. However, according to the president’s communications minister, people are still trying to block roads and access refineries.
The heads of Brazil’s three government branches issued a joint statement on Monday condemning “terrorist acts” in Brazil and vowing to defend democracy.
The statement was signed by Lula, Acting Senate President Veneziano Vital Do Rego, Lower House Speaker Arthur Lira, and Chief Justice Rosa Weber. It read: “We are united in order that institutional measures be taken according to the terms of Brazilian law.”
They are also known as “serenity” and “peace”.
Flavio Dino, Justice Minister, stated that police are now tracking down those who paid for the 100 buses transporting protesters to the capital. He also said that they won’t succeed in “destroying Brazilian democracy”.
“We must say this fully with all firmness, conviction. We won’t accept criminality as a way to engage in political fights in Brazil. He said that a criminal is treated as if he were a criminal.
Protesters will face a ‘full force of the law’
Lula traveled from Sao Paulo where he was on an official visit, to Brasilia in order to inspect the Supreme Court Building to see the damage.
He called protesters “fascists” and said they would be punished “with all the force of law”. Then he accused Bolsonaro of being a “genocidist”, who encourages this via social media from Miami.
“Everybody is aware that there are many speeches by the ex-president encouraging such.”
Did Bolsonaro fuel rallies?
Bolsonaro tweeted his reaction to the protest and said that peaceful demonstrations are a part democracy, but that any invasion or control of public buildings was “crossing the line”.
Although he said he “repudiates” Lula’s accusations in his statement, Bolsonaro had been encouraging the belief among his hardcore supporters, that the country’s electronic vote system was susceptible to fraud, even though no evidence was presented to support such a claim.
Eduardo Bolsonaro was also the son of Mr Bolsonaro and had several meetings with Mr Trump’s long-time ally Steve Bannon, as well as his senior campaign advisor Jason Miller.
The Bolsonaro government has not opposed the transfer of power directly, but the far-right leader has yet conceded or congratulated his opponent.