Police in Brazil have arrested hundreds of people and wrested back control of the country’s Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court from rioting supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
In a tweet yesterday, the police said at least 300 people had been detained in the capital, Brasilia, after the rampage by thousands of Bolsonaro’s supporters who refuse to accept his election defeat – a grim echo of the invasion of the United States Capitol two years ago by die-hard supporters of former President Donald Trump.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries from yesterday’s assault, but the invaders left a trail of destruction, throwing furniture through the smashed windows of the presidential palace, flooding parts of Congress with a sprinkler system and ransacking ceremonial rooms in the Supreme Court.
The uprising, which lasted a little over three hours, underlined the severe polarization that still grips the country days after the inauguration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in the October election.
