Brazil Authorities Seek To Punish Rioters

January 9, 2023 4:20 am

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Brazilian authorities were picking up pieces and investigating after thousands of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace then trashed the nation’s highest seats of power. They were seeking military intervention to either restore the far-right Bolsonaro or oust newly inaugurated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in scenes that evoked the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in the U.S. Capitol. The government described the protesters actions Sunday as terrorism and coup-mongering and tallied 300 arrests. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the so-called “fascist fanatics” and their financiers must be punished and accused the former president of encouraging their uprising. Bolsonaro repudiated that.