Brazil declares state of emergency due to riots

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced in the capital of the country, a state of emergency until the end of January due to protests. He also promised to punish those who caused the riots. “They will all pay according to the law. Whoever did this will be found and punished. <...> Those people we call fascists, the most disgusting creature in politics, have invaded the palace and congress,” da Silva wrote on Twitter.

Demanding the government’s resignation, supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, who lost the presidential election, broke into the building of the congress (that is, parliament) late on Sunday evening, January 8. The Bolsonarists also broke into the buildings of the presidential palace and the Federal Supreme Court. Police fired tear gas at protesters armed with sticks and stones, Globo reported.

Anderson Torres, head of the Public Safety Secretariat for the Capital Federal District, tweeted that he ordered immediate action “to restore order.” The Minister of Justice and Public Security of the country, Flavio Dino, declared the absurdity of the anti-democratic actions of Bolsonaro’s supporters and stressed that “an attempt to impose will by force will not prevail.”

The riots in the capital of Brazil have already been condemned by the United States, the European Union and a number of Latin American states.

Acting head of the US diplomatic mission in Brazil Douglas Koneff condemned on Twitter “aggression” against the country’s executive, legislative and judicial authorities. The US Embassy has advised its citizens to avoid entering the government quarter of Brasilia. The protests were condemned by the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the head of the EU foreign service, Josep Borrell, TASS reports.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, an ally of Lula, said that “fascists” had launched a “coup attempt” and suggested an urgent meeting of the Organization of American States. Chilean President Gabriel Boric said he rejects the “cowardly and heinous” attack on democracy and announced on his Twitter that he was ready to send special forces to help the Brazilian security forces in the confrontation with the protesters. Even the Ecuadorian authorities, headed by Guillermo Lasso, an ally of the former Brazilian president, said that Lula was legitimately elected.

The President of Argentina, which chairs the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), Alberto Fernandez, also condemned the unrest in Brazil on his Twitter and supported President da Siwa. He urged CELAC member countries to prevent “the return of the specter of a right-wing coup”. Brazil was pulled out of CELAC by Bolsonaro in 2020. Instead, Brazil joined the right-wing South American Progress Forum (Prosur), founded in March 2019 in Chile by right-wing governments.

On October 31, the highest electoral court of Brazil announced that the former president of the country (2003-2010), candidate from the socialist Workers’ Party da Silva, following the results of the second round of voting, again led the country, defeating the current head of state Bolsonaro. On November 22, Bolsonaro filed a complaint with Brazil’s highest electoral court against the results of the vote, citing the allegedly incorrect operation of electronic ballot boxes as the reason. But the lawsuit was not satisfied, and on January 1, the inauguration of President da Silva, who was already the head of the Brazilian state from 2003 to 2010, took place in Brasilia.

The fact that after the elections Brazil could be covered by riots was clear even before the announcement of the voting results – according to opinion polls and the results of the presidential elections, the country is split almost equally between the supporters of da Silva and the now former president Bolsonaro, says electoral lawyer Anton Timchenko. According to him, the Bolsonarists have been bluntly stating since the summer that they will not allow them to “steal the elections”, alluding in every possible way to the repetition of the “campaign to the Capitol” scenario of former US President Donald Trump, which took place exactly two years ago, in January 2021.

In his opinion, against the backdrop of unrest, da Silva, who took office, has a chance not only to retain power, but to use the situation to his advantage, using the mechanism of federal intervention (intervention of the federal center in the affairs of the region) and the national guard. As the expert notes, the protests began surprisingly late – Lula managed to officially take office, he was recognized as elected by world leaders. Secondly, says Timchenko, in the current situation, the leading economic clans, large media resources and the judiciary are on the side of Lula. Finally, the leader of the protesters is not currently in the country, he is in the United States.

Current events will lead to the political marginalization of the leaders of these actions if Lula keeps the situation, Timchenko concludes.