Brazil observed the anniversary of the January 8 attack on its capital. jair bolsonaro news
President Lula attended the event to condemn the ‘coup’ against him led by supporters of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrated the second anniversary of the attack on government buildings in the plaza where the violence took place.
On Wednesday, Lula – who had surgery last month to treat bleeding in the brain – appeared at the Three Powers Plaza in the capital Brasília to condemn the January 8, 2023 riots, which he compared to a coup against his presidency. Is of.
He also used the occasion to display defiance in the wake of the attack, in which thousands of protesters vandalized the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Supreme Court building and the Congress.
“Today is the day to say loud and clear: We are still here,” Lula told his supporters.
“We are here to say that we are alive and democracy is alive, contrary to the plans of those plotting a coup on January 8, 2023.”
The attack on January 8 came just seven days after leftist leader Lula was appointed to a third consecutive term.
Lula was not in the Presidential Palace at the time, nor was Brazil’s Congress in session. But the attack caused millions of dollars in damage and injured dozens of law enforcement officers and protesters.
Many rioters tried to instigate a military rebellion against Lula’s presidency.
Lula had a narrow election: He entered the race against incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in October 2022 and won by the tightest margin in Brazil’s history. Just over 2.1 million votes separated the two candidates.
But far-right Bolsonaro had been spreading false claims long before the election that Brazil’s electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud, and he refused to publicly accept defeat in the wake of the vote.
This sparked widespread protests, with Bolsonaro supporters blocking highways and attacking police headquarters in Brasília. There was also a bomb threat in the capital before the inauguration.
Before Lula took power, Bolsonaro left the country and moved to Florida. He has since returned to the country, where he faces multiple legal cases and investigations.
Some relate to his role in spreading misinformation about the election as well as his connection to the attack on January 8, 2023.
In June 2023, Brazil’s electoral court ruled that Bolsonaro could not run for office again until 2030, as punishment for using government resources to sow distrust in the voting system.
And in November 2024, federal police officially charged Bolsonaro and 36 associates with plotting to overturn the 2022 election results. Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet has not yet decided whether to formally charge the former president.
Other investigations have looked into whether Bolsonaro embezzled jewelery from Saudi Arabia while in office, or spread misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, on Wednesday, Bolsonaro claimed on social media that United States President-elect Donald Trump had invited him to Washington, DC, for his inauguration on January 20.
“My lawyer, Dr. Paulo Bueno, has already sent a request to Minister Alexandre de Moraes to have my passport returned so that I can attend this honorable and important historical event,” Bolsonaro wrote.
His passport was confiscated amid the ongoing investigation.
