Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/BRAZIL: Brazil’s leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returns triumphantly to the presidency on Sunday after years out in the cold, with plans for a spectacular inauguration amid ultra-tight security.
Some 300,000 revellers and more than a dozen heads of states and governments are expected to attend the swearing-in extravaganza in the usually tranquil capital Brasilia.
Dubbed “Lollapalooza” in the media, the event could combine institutional rites with a mega concert gathering some of Brazil’s biggest musical stars.
A failed Christmas Eve bomb attack had been threatened to put a damper on proceedings, prompting a never-before-seen security deployment for Brazilian presidential inauguration.
Lula’s Inauguration
Lula, 77, could officially become president for a third, non-successive term after taking the oath with his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin at the ceremony in Congress.
The moment his followers have waited for is when he ascends the stage at Planalto palace, the seat of the presidency.
Lula has set to receive the presidential sash, green-and-yellow silk band embroidered in diamonds and gold.
The new head of the state receives the sash from his predecessor, but outgoing far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, who has gone silent since his electoral loss to Lula in October, has not said he could attend a ceremony.
Bolsonaro has not accepted publicly defeat nor congratulated Lula on his narrow victory.
Lula managed to garner 50.9 per cent of the vote after a deeply divisive campaign in which Bolsonaro hammered, with some success, on his rival’s corruption conviction, since overturned in court.
Brazilian media has suggested Bolsonaro may be leaving the country to celebrate the new year in Florida in the United States of America.
The state of Brasilia has said that it could deploy “100 per cent” of its police force, some 8,000 officers, for Sunday’s celebrations amid fears of disturbances following the failed bomb attack in Brasilia a week before the inauguration.
Authority arrested Bolsonaro follower on terror charges after he has allegedly placed explosives in fuel truck near Brasilia’s airport on Christmas Eve, hoping to sow “chaos” ahead of the inauguration.
The suspect told officials they wanted to “prevent the establishment of communism in Brazil” under Lula. Police had found a cache of the weapons at his home.
Brasilia deployment, the federal police have said more than 1,000 of its officers would perform “intelligence and security” tasks related to Sunday’s event largest contingent ever for the presidential investiture.
After the defeat Bolsonaro’s, supporters blocked roads and demonstrated outside a military barracks to demand the forces prevent Lula’s inauguration.
On December 12, some of them set fire to vehicles and clashed with the police in Brasilia.
By Thursday, hundreds were gathered outside army headquarters in the capital, demanding military intervention.
Lula backers expressed fear on media of riots or attacks on inauguration day, but Lula’s future Flavio Dino security minister has sought to give assurances an event could be “safe” and “peaceful,” encouraging Brazilians to join celebrations.
Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended the right to bear arms for civilians until the day after a ceremony.
Given security concerns and predictions of rain, it had not been clear whether Lula could do the traditional presidential street parade in vintage convertible, as is the custom, and in a closed, armoured car.
The decision will be taken “at the moment,” Dino told the journalists.
Fifty-three foreign delegations, including 17 heads of the state or government, have scheduled to attend the inauguration, a historically large turnout.
Among them could be the presidents of Germany, Argentina, Chile and Spain’s King Felipe VI.
Joe Biden US President, who, as vice president in 2015, attended inauguration of Dilma Rousseff, has sent his Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
The public could gather on the Esplanade of Ministries, so called for being surrounded by congress and government buildings.
There could be two giant stages decorated in the colours of Brazilian flag, where more than 60 popular artists, including Samba legend Martinho da Vila, have due to perform.
“We could have a great popular festival”, promised future first lady Rosangela da Silva, who organized the so-called “Festival of the Future” popularly renamed “Lollapalooza” on social media after the American Lollapalooza music event.
