In a flash of post-election violence on the day the president’s electoral defeat was announced, Far-right supporters of defeated Jair Bolsonaro attempted to storm the federal police headquarters in the capital Brasilia on Monday.
Reuters reporters witnessed Bolsonaro supporters assaulting security forces at police headquarters, many of whom were dressed in their distinctive yellow national soccer jerseys or draped in Brazilian flags. To separate the throng, police used stun grenades and tear gas. Buses and cars in the area were set on fire.
According to federal police, ‘disturbances’ near the headquarters are being addressed with assistance from capital security troops.
According to the judge who ordered the arrest, the violence began after a Bolsonaro supporter was apprehended for allegedly coordinating violent ‘anti-democratic crimes.’
Earlier on Monday, the federal electoral court (TSE) declared Bolsonaro’s leftist opponent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as president. After months of unsubstantiated claims that Brazil’s vote system is open to fraud, Bolsonaro has neither accepted loss to Lula nor legally halted the transfer of power.
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