Thousands of Brazilians are demanding retribution against supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who stormed and ransacked buildings in the nation’s capital.
Cries of “no amnesty!” were heard from those protesting, first at the law college at the University of Sao Paulo and hours later throughout the streets in Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo, per the Associated Press. Protesters held banners and posters written with the call for punishment.
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As of Monday, over 1,500 supporters of Bolsonaro have been arrested since rioters stormed the National Congress, presidential palace, and other government buildings on Sunday.
“These people need to be punished, the people who ordered it need to be punished, those who gave money for it need to be punished,” Bety Amin, 61, who had the word “DEMOCRACY” written across the back of her shirt, told the Associated Press. “They don’t represent Brazil. We represent Brazil.”
Windows were smashed and buildings vandalized in protest over the election win of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last year. Bolsonaro sparked outrage among his supporters when he claimed the election was stolen and riddled with fraud. There has been no evidence to support his claims.
“It’s unacceptable what happened yesterday. It’s terrorism,” police officer Marcelo Menezes, 59, of the northeastern Pernambuco state, said at a protest in Sao Paulo. “I’m here in defense of democracy. I’m here in defense of the people.”
In a Twitter thread, the former Brazilian president denied Lula’s claims that he encouraged the riot in any way, condemning it as unlawful.
“Peaceful demonstrations, in the form of the law, are part of democracy. However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today … escape the rule,” he wrote in the thread. “Throughout my mandate, I have always been within the four lines of the Constitution, respecting and defending the laws, democracy, transparency, and our sacred freedom.”
Bolsonaro is in Florida, which has prompted several U.S. politicians to demand that President Joe Biden and his administration deny Bolsonaro any form of protection or refuge.
Since Sunday, the military has worked to clear out a massive camp set up by pro-Bolsonaro protesters, which made up a significant amount of the 1,200 arrested. Some were caught in the act of defacing Congress and the Supreme Court.
The Federal Police told the Associated Press that it plans on indicting at least 1,000 people and is in the process of transferring them out of the gymnasium where they are being held into the nearby Papuda prison.
Lula issued a decree allowing the federal government to assume control of security in the capital following the riots. Congress’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, approved the decree on Monday night, and it will now go to the Senate, per the Associated Press.
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Justice Minister Flavio Dino said he plans on prosecuting those behind the scenes who rallied rioters to storm the capital on charges of organized crime, staging a coup, and violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, among others.
“We cannot and will not compromise in fulfilling our legal duties,” Dino said. “This fulfillment is essential so such events do not repeat themselves.”
