BRASILIA: Brazil’s next justice minister on Tuesday (Dec 13) vowed accountability for supporters of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro who burned buses and attacked police on the day authorities certified the victory of leftist President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Flavio Dino also told GloboNews that any authorities found responsible for failing to contain rioters in Brasilia on Monday night would also face punishment, with no “magic amnesty,” as questions mounted about the official response to the violent protests.
Senior members of Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) and Federal Electoral Court (TSE) believe Brasilia’s security forces were too lenient and should have acted more forcefully, two court sources told Reuters, in the latest example of tensions between the judiciary and the federal district’s law enforcement.
In an interview late on Monday, Brasilia security chief Júlio Danilo denied security failures, saying that those involved will be identified and held accountable.
Monday’s protests in the capital, in which Bolsonaro supporters set fire to cars and buses after trying to invade the federal police headquarters after the arrest of a protest leader, capped weeks of post-election tensions.
Although he has not blocked the handover of power, Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat, and some supporters have camped outside army bases urging the military to overturn the result of October’s presidential vote, citing conspiracy theories that the election was “stolen”.
Dino said he hoped the protesters would now see the futility of their actions, and urged them to return to their homes.
“It’s over, the page has been turned, let’s look ahead. In 2026, there will be fresh elections,” he said.
Yet that may be optimistic, public security experts told Reuters, with even the short-term outlook appearing complicated.
“The problem is, we don’t know if this was a warning of what is still to come, or if they emptied the chamber already,” said João Roberto Martins Filho, an expert on military relations at the Federal University of São Carlos, in reference to Lula’s Jan 1 inauguration.
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