Bolsonaro supporters are targeted in Brazil, and new protest fails

Brazilian federal prosecutors asked on Wednesday to look into three friends of former President Jair Bolsonaro who are in Congress. They are accused of helping to plan the biggest attack on the country’s democratic institutions in decades.

The investigation was requested as the administration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was getting ready to ratchet up security in response to new rallies on Wednesday, but large-scale protests that Bolsonaro supporters had planned to “retake power” never happened.

According to the police, 1,159 of the persons detained in connection with the invasion of the Brazilian government building on Sunday are still being held. After being detained, 684 additional people, including old people, persons with health concerns, and parents of young children, were freed for “humanitarian grounds,” according to the police.

On social media, protest organisers have recently urged people to block roads and refineries, pull down power lines, and otherwise create enough disruption to force a military coup that would annul the election Bolsonaro lost to Lula in October.

Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters staged protests in Brasilia on Sunday, ransacking the Supreme Court, Congress, and presidential offices. Ricardo Cappelli, the federal official appointed to oversee public security in the nation’s capital following the riots, claimed that all security forces had been mobilised to prevent a repeat of the rampage.

Cappelli stated during a news conference that “those who lost the election and are trying to create a catastrophe will not succeed.”

The attack participants would be allowed to defend themselves, but any crime that was later established would result in punishment, according to Lula’s statement on Wednesday. He also labelled those who stormed and trashed government buildings in the city “crazy” and condemned Bolsonaro for refusing to acknowledge the election results.

The anti-government protesters’ use of barricades to cause economic disruption was outlawed by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also directed local government officials to stop building storming.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court affirmed Moraes’ arrest warrant for Anderson Torres, the former justice minister under Bolsonaro, who was in charge of maintaining order during the disturbances on Sunday. Torres was charged with “negligence and connivance” by Moraes.

Torres was sacked for his failure to put an end to the pandemonium on Sunday, and his arrest warrant claimed collusion with the protesters who marched to the capital under police protection. Torres, who has been on vacation in Florida since before the riots, declared on Tuesday that he would fly back to Brazil to stand trial there.

As one of several personnel in charge of guarding federal facilities in Brasilia, Moraes also commanded the detention of Fabio Augusto Vieira, the commander of the military police in that city. Since the order was made public, Vieira has not said anything in the media.

The court also supported Ibaneis Rocha, Torres’ previous employer, being fired from his position as governor of Brasilia for 90 days.

Additionally, prosecutors have pushed to freeze Bolsonaro’s assets.

Brazilian stock markets closed higher despite the possibility of more protests, with the Bovespa benchmark index up 1.5%.

According to JPMorgan’s analysts, despite the polarised environment and the violent assault on Brazil’s official buildings on January 8, there are good grounds to believe that governability won’t be a problem right away.

Bolsonaro, who departed Brazil 48 hours before his tenure at the end of December came to an end and has yet to accept Lula’s loss, informed the media from Florida that he intended to return to Brazil sooner than anticipated for medical reasons, although he did not give a specific date.

Reuters