The images come a day after thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and Presidential Palace in scenes reminiscent of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots in the U.S. Shocking photos and videos on social media show throngs of Bolsonaro supporters running through the buildings, many waving Brazilian flags, only a week after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated as Brazil’s new president. Some footage from the Sunday riots show pro-Bolsonaro protesters forcing their way into the buildings and destroying furniture inside of Congress.
Brazilian police arrested 300 people after the Sunday riots but the violence continued into Monday. On Monday morning, a local radio station, Rádio BandNews FM, tweeted a video of a highway in São Paulo being blocked by protestors and flames under a bridge.
A translation of the tweet accompanying the video reads: “Bolsonaristas now block the local lane of Marginal Tietê, towards Dutra in upper Ponte dos Remédios. Military Police teams are on site. The road is one of the most important in the city of São Paulo.”
TV program Balanço Geral also posted a video of the flames on Twitter.
Camarote da República reported that as of 7:30 a.m. local time in Brasilia, civil, military and police vehicles were on their way to the military headquarters in the city. It said that Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes had ordered the removal of coup supporters from their camp in the city.
Newsweek has contacted the Brazilian Federal Police for comment.
Many Bolsonaro supporters have called for the Lula’s October election victory to be overturned and for the leftist to be imprisoned.
Lula, who reportedly was not inside of the Presidential Palace during the riot, condemned them as “barbarism” during a televised address on Sunday. He also vowed that those involved will be “punished” and criticized law enforcement for not doing enough to quell the violence, saying that they “let the protesters in.”
Bolsonaro fled his own country for Florida ahead of the end of his term. Brazil’s Congress is not in session at the moment.
