Brazil is having its own Jan. 6

Brazil is having its own Jan. 6

Rollng Stone reports:

Images eerily evocative of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol are coming out of Brazil as thousands of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro storm government buildings in the capital of Brasília. According to The New York Times, protesters have breached Brazil’s Congress, presidential offices, and Supreme Court believing Bolsonaro’s baseless claims that the recent presidential election was stolen from him.

President Joe Biden condemned the attacks as an “assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil” in a statement issued Sunday evening. “Brazil’s democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined,” he said. “I look forward to continuing to work with” current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Biden has previously said that Lula’s election was “free, fair, and credible.”


Much like former U.S. President Donald Trump, the right-wing populist Bolsonaro has claimed for years that his country’s elections are riddled with fraud, claims many elections officials, election security experts and fact-checkers have adamantly refuted. Bolsonaro has even alleged that detractors attempted and failed to steal the election from him in 2018. For months since Bolsonaro’s defeat by Lula on Nov. 1, his supporters have been calling for a coup. Trump allies Steve Bannon and Jason Miller have reportedly been advising Bolsonaro since his defeat, and his son, Brazilian congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, has reportedly met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Similar to the U.S. insurrection, videos show protestors overwhelming police barricades and breaking glass to enter Congress. Unlike the U.S. insurrection, however, Congress was not heavily occupied by lawmakers or their staff ahead of the attack, as it was not in session. Lula was in São Paulo when the event began, although officials were working in the presidential palace and are awaiting evacuation, CNN Brasil reported. Lula has announced intent to sign an emergency decree that would let the federal government use “any means necessary” to restore order through Jan. 31. [Continue reading…]

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