Over 700 in custody after storming of Brazilian government buildings

Jan 14, 2023

World
Over 700 in custody after storming of Brazilian government buildings

Rio de Janeiro [Brazil], January 14: ill in custody after radical supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed Brazil's main government buildings on Sunday, and authorities are ramping up security measures to prevent further such riots.
The thousands of rioters who attacked Brazil's Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace in Brasília refuse to acknowledge Bolsonaro's defeat to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was sworn in as president a week ago.
The penitentiary administration of the capital district published the names of 763 arrested on Wednesday.
They had been detained both directly after the attacks and when a tent camp of Bolsonaro supporters was broken up outside the armed forces headquarters in the capital on Tuesday.
It was initially unclear whether the list that has now been published includes all the suspects who remain in custody.
In total, police had arrested at least 1,500 people. Several hundred people arrested directly during the riots were taken to various prisons, and around 1,200 Bolsonaro supporters from the protest camp were taken to the Federal Police Academy to have their personal details ascertained.
Afterwards, however, many people such as mothers of small children and elderly people were released.
Meanwhile authorities have ramped up security measures in Brasília to prevent potential further actions by Bolsonaro supporters.
"A repeat of the [January 8] events is out of the question," said the head of security in the capital district, Ricardo Cappelli, on Brazilian television on Wednesday.
In future, the entire police force would be mobilized in case of possible seditious acts, he said.
"The esplanade of the ministries is already closed to car traffic.
There will be barriers, roadblocks and controls," Cappelli continued.
Bolsonaro supporters had called for a "mega-demonstration to regain power" in all state capitals of Brazil on Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile an overwhelming majority of Brazilians, 93%, condemn Sunday's attacks on the government sites in the capital, a survey by the Datafolha polling institute found.
Source: Qatar Tribune