Since the outcome of the country’s national election on Oct. 30, 2022, mass protests have been held by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who doubt the authenticity of the results.
On Jan. 8, a week after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office on Jan. 1, a crowd of protesters engaged in vandalism, flooded government buildings, and destroyed windows of the presidential palace while also smashing furniture in Congress and the Supreme Court.
According to video footage from local broadcasters and groups related to Bolsonaro, security forces were initially overwhelmed by rioters before they were able to take back control of the Supreme Court and Congress buildings by 5:30 p.m. local time, about three hours after the breach.
“In advance of the election, we designated Brazil as a temporary high-risk location and have been removing content calling for people to take up arms or forcibly invade Congress, the Presidential palace, and other federal buildings,” the spokesperson told the network.
“We are also designating this as a violating event, which means we will remove content that supports or praises these actions,” the spokesperson continued. “We are actively following the situation and will continue removing content that violates our policies.”
YouTube, meanwhile, also told Reuters that the video-sharing company was “closely tracking” the situation in Brazil as it continues to unfold.
“Our Trust and Safety team is removing content that violates our Community Guidelines, including livestreams and videos inciting violence,” a YouTube spokesperson told the network.
Mass Arrests as Lula Declares ‘Federal Security Intervention’
The press office for Brazilian Justice Minister Flávio Dino told The Associated Press that some 1,200 people were arrested on Monday after police broke down an encampment set up by supporters of Bolsonaro outside a military building.Dino said authorities have started to track those who paid for the buses that transported protesters to the capital. At a news conference late on Jan. 8, Brazil’s minister of institutional relations said the buildings would be inspected for evidence including fingerprints and images to hold people to account, and that the rioters apparently intended to spark similar unrest nationwide.
Monday’s arrests came in addition to the 300 people who are being held after they were caught in the act.
Lula, who was on a trip to Brazil’s most populous state of Sao Paulo when the attacks erupted, declared a “federal security intervention” until the end of January.
“All these people who did this will be found and they will be punished,” he said at a press conference.
Lula, a socialist, was declared the winner with 50.9 percent of the vote. Bolsonaro has not publicly conceded, but said in a speech in November 2022 that he would abide by the country’s Constitution.
