1 of 3 | Police confront protesters invading the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, on Sunday. Hundreds of supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro invaded the headquarters of the National Congress, and also the Supreme Court and the Planalto Palace in a demonstration calling for a military intervention to overthrow President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Photo by Andre Borges/EPA-EFE
Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Hundreds of supporters of Brazil's right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country's Congress, Supreme Court and Planalto Presidential Palace on Sunday to protest the election of Lula da Silva while calling for a military intervention to overthrow him.
The violent demonstrators, inspired by Bolsonaro's rhetoric during his campaign, clashed with the country's Military Police and vandalized the buildings in Brazil's capital of Brasília, Folha de São Paulo reported.
Police reportedly used non-lethal deterrents including "stun bombs" to dispel participants in the riot at the capital as protesters broke windows to enter the Federal Supreme Court building.
Protesters allegedly retaliated by setting off fireworks and throwing objects at police, Brazilian news outlets reported.
Federal District Gov. Ibaneis Rocha said authorities had arrested more than 400 people who "will pay for the crimes committed."
"We continue working to identify all the others who participated in these terrorist acts this afternoon in the federal district," he tweeted. "We continue to work to restore order."
The Supreme Court said Sunday evening that security forces were able to regain control of the building after it was besieged by protesters.
In a statement, it said Brazil on Sunday had lived through "a sad and unfortunate page of its history, the result of the nonconformity of those who refuse to accept democracy."
Bolsonaro has often been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump and was endorsed by his U.S. counterpart in the election. Like Trump, he claimed ahead of the October election that the only way he would lose would be as a result of voter fraud.
Lula, a left-wing politician who previously served as Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, narrowly bested Bolsonaro in the late October election, garnering 50.9% of vote to 491%.
Lula blasted the riot and said that Bolsonaro gave "several speeches" encouraging the actions of his supporters, whom he branded as "fascists."
"This is also his responsibility and the parties that supported him," Lula said in a statement.
Bolsonaro, who is currently in Florida, denied accusations that he caused the attacks, tweeting that he has always worked within the Constitution.
"Peaceful demonstrations, in the form of the law, are part of democracy," he tweeted. "However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today ... escape the rule."
Lula on Sunday also issued a presidential decree for federal intervention in the public security of the nation's federal district.
The decree will be in effect until Jan. 31 and will give the responsibility of public security in the federal district to Ricardo Garcia Cappelli, the executive secretary of Brazil's Justice Ministry.
"You must have followed the barbarism in Brasilia today. Those people we call fascists, the most abominable thing in politics, invaded the palace and Congress. We think there was a lack of security," Lula said in a statement.
"Whoever did this will be found and punished. Democracy guarantees the right to free expression, but it also requires people to respect institutions. There is no precedent in the history of the country what they did today. For that they must be punished."
Lula traveled to São Paulo this weekend and was not in Brasilia as the violence erupted. Bolsonaro left Brazil ahead of Lula's inauguration and has been in Florida.
Brazilian officials have reportedly called in the country's National Guard to dispel the protesters, who have been camped out in Brasilia since the inauguration.
Unlike the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, neither house of the Brazilian Congress was in session during the riot.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday condemned the attack on "democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil" in statement.
"Brazil's democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined," he tweeted.
Canadian Prime Minister Justice Trudeau similarly tweeted his support of Lula and his condemnation for the unrest.
"Respecting the democratic will of the people is paramount in any democracy -- including Brazil," he said. "Canada strongly condemns the violent behavior on display there today, and we reaffirm our support for President @LulaOficial and Brazil's democratic institutions."
