News Desk
ISLAMABAD/BRASILIA: Brazil police cleared all government buildings including the country’s congress, the presidential palace and the supreme court after they were stormed and ransacked by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro supporters refuse to concede defeat
Since the defeat of the right-wing Bolsonaro by a narrow margin in October last, his supporters have been staging protests on the streets almost daily, calling for military intervention and leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s resignation.
According to the BBC, security forces have regained control of all government buildings, including the presidential palace, after Bolsonaro’s supporters and backers rampaged them.
According to Reuters, there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries from their rampage, but the rainmakers left a trail of destruction and threw furniture through the smashed windows of the presidential palace and flooded parts of Congress with a sprinkler system and ransacked ceremonial rooms in the Supreme Court.
The sight of thousands of yellow-and-green-clad activists running riot in Brasilia capped months of tension following the October 30 presidential vote.
The ransacking, which lasted a little over three hours, underlined the severe polarization that still grips the country days after the inauguration of President Lula da Silva.
President Lula, who is on an official visit to Sao Paulo state, said in a press conference that the vandals and fanatical fascists did what has never been done in the history of this country and all those who did this will be tracked and they would be punished.
Lula, who announced a federal security intervention through a decree in Brasilia lasting until January 31 after capital security forces were initially overwhelmed by the invaders, accused Bolsonaro of inflaming his supporters after a campaign of baseless allegations about potential election fraud.
