Last Sunday, thousands of supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (67) stormed all three instances of the Brazilian government: the Congress, the Supreme Court and the Presidential Palace for about five hours. They overwhelmed the security forces and demanded the overthrow of left-wing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (77).
The violence has shaken the country. How did so many people manage to break into some of the country’s most heavily secured buildings with little resistance? The question arises whether the security forces charged with protecting the area were simply overwhelmed or whether they were even actively supporting the demonstrators.
For President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the matter is clear. “The Brasilia police ignored the threat of attack, the Brasilia secret service ignored it,” Lula claimed a day after the siege. “There was an explicit agreement between the police and the demonstrators.”
The secret service would have been aware of the protest plans
However, the Brazilian president emphasizes that he does not see the events of January 8 as a “coup d’état”, but as a “small affair, a bunch of madmen who do not realize that the elections are over”. Nevertheless, it is important to clarify: how could all this have happened? A report from CNN now provides insight into how the protest could escalate.
Accordingly, Sunday’s protests days before would have been organized openly on the Internet. The Brazilian secret service apparently also got wind of the case. Telegram conversations viewed by CNN show that Bolsonaro supporters announced their intentions to storm Brazil’s Congress as early as Jan. 5.
A message mentions plans to use the Zello mobile app. It can even be used as a walkie-talkie in case the internet is interrupted. The same app was previously used by some rioters at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Brazil’s intelligence agency said it had warned the government and district government of Brasilia before Jan. 8 that the protests would be large-scale and violent, CNN Brasil reports.
Police officers were overwhelmed
The secret service relied on a warning from the Brazilian transport authority, according to which an unusually large number of buses had been chartered to Brasilia. Both Justice Minister Flávio Dino (54) and the now suspended governor of Brasilia, Ibaneis Rocha (51), an ally of Bolsonaro, have been informed, according to the news service.
Despite the warnings, Rocha told Metropolis on Jan. 7 that the protest would take place on the Esplanade — a lawn surrounded by government buildings that leads directly to the seats of Brazilian power.
When the protesters took to the streets en masse a day later, as planned, on January 8, they met little resistance. When the riots started on 8 January, only 365 MPs had been deployed to the area.
At around 2:25 p.m. local time, the Marechaussee tried to stop the demonstrators on the esplanade of the ministries along the Eixo Monumental – without success. They were quickly overrun by the demonstrators, who broke through the barricades. Although the police tried to stop some rioters with pepper spray, this method also proved futile.
Five hours of pure chaos
More than 20 minutes later, around 2:45 p.m. local time, the crowd for the convention arrived. Several videos show how some units of the federal and military police continued to try to block the way for the Bolsonaristas. Since the barricades were gone, they had it easy. Eventually the police saw it too. Some began to watch the scene passively. One even filmed the protesters climbing onto the roof of the convention.
After President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva finally authorized federal police intervention around 6 p.m. local time, an additional 2,913 officers were called in, a federal executive district spokesman told CNN.
At around 7pm local time, after several hours of sheer chaos, the police and military finally managed to get the situation under control. The crowd poured off the roof of the convention and left the government building. (ceded)