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Brazil Is Having Its Own Jan. 6 Right Now

2023-01-10
Sir Texas
Supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in the country’s capital

Images eerily evocative of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol came out of Brazil as thousands of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in the capital of Brasília on Sunday. According to The New York Times, protesters breached Brazil’s Congress, presidential offices, and Supreme Court believing Bolsonaro’s baseless claims that the recent presidential election was stolen from him.

Much like former U.S. President Donald Trump, the right-wing populist Bolsonaro has claimed for years that his country’s elections are riddled with fraud, claims many elections officials, election security experts and fact-checkers have adamantly refuted. Bolsonaro has even alleged that detractors attempted and failed to steal the election from him in 2018. For months since Bolsonaro’s defeat by Lula on Nov. 1, his supporters have been calling for a coup. Trump allies Steve Bannon and Jason Miller have reportedly been advising Bolsonaro since his defeat, and his son, Brazilian congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, has reportedly met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Similar to the U.S. insurrection, videos show protestors overwhelming police barricades and breaking glass to enter Congress. Unlike the U.S. insurrection, however, Congress was not heavily occupied by lawmakers or their staff ahead of the attack, as it was not in session. Lula was in São Paulo when the event began, although officials were working in the presidential palace, CNN Brasil reported.

Lula signed an emergency decree that would let the federal government use “any means necessary” to restore order, and also ordered the closure of the center of the capital for 24 hours, as BBC reports.

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