Hundreds of police in riot gear and on horseback have removed supporters of far-right Brazilian former president Jair Bolsonaro from government buildings, hours after a mob of rioters stormed the government buildings in the capital city of Brasilia.
Law enforcement officers arrived at the encampment near Brasilia’s army headquarters on Monday morning and began removing Bolsonaro’s supporters who had set up camp in the aftermath of October’s presidential election, The New York Times reports.
The former president’s supporters have refused to accept his loss to left-wing candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and have been calling for military intervention after Bolsonaro spent months spreading false claims of election fraud before voters headed to the polls.
On Sunday, these false claims reached a head when thousands of pro-Bolsonaro rioters stormed the country’s National Congress, Supreme Court, and the presidential palace in the capital Brasilia.
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The saga is reminiscent of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, which was spurred by former president Donald Trump’s lies about a fraudulent election.
President da Silva, known as Lula, has blamed his predecessor for the invasion of Brazil’s government buildings and vowed to punish the law-breakers.
“[He] is encouraging this via social media from Miami,” Lula said of Bolsonaro on Sunday.
“Everybody knows there are various speeches of the ex-president encouraging this.”
In a late-night tweet, Lula said that the rioters would be “punished”, vowing “democracy always”.
Bolsonaro denied any responsibility for the attack.
