Brazil marks the anniversary of the attack on its capital on January 8 | News about Jair Bolsonaro
President Lula attended the event to condemn the ‘coup’ led against him by supporters of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva marked the second anniversary of the attack on government buildings with a celebration in the square where the violence took place.
On Wednesday, Lula – who underwent surgery last month for a brain haemorrhage – appeared in the Tri Powers Square in the capital Brasilia to denounce riots from January 8, 2023with which he compared coup d’état against his presidency.
He also took the opportunity to show defiance after the attack, in which thousands of protesters stormed the presidential palace, the Supreme Court building and 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 that democracy is alive, contrary to what the putschists planned on January 8, 2023.”
The January 8 attack came just seven days after Lula, a leftist leader, was inaugurated for a non-consecutive third term.
At that time, Lula was not in the presidential palace, nor was the Brazilian Congress in session. But the attack caused millions of dollars in damage, and dozens of police officers and protesters were injured.
Many of the rebels sought to instigate a military rebellion against Lula’s presidency.
Lula’s election was a close one: He entered the second round of the race against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October 2022 and won by one of the narrowest margins in Brazilian history. The two candidates are separated by slightly more than 2.1 million votes.
But far-right Bolsonaro spread false claims long before the election that Brazil’s electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud, and refused to publicly admit defeat after the vote.
This sparked widespread protests, with Bolsonaro’s supporters blocking highways and attacking police headquarters in Brasilia. AND bomb threat in the capital it was even reported on the eve of the inauguration.
Bolsonaro left the country for Florida before Lula took power. He has since returned to the country, where he faces numerous legal cases and investigations.
Some refer to his role in spreading disinformation about the election, as well as his connection to the January 8, 2023 attack.
In June 2023, the Brazilian electoral court ruled that Bolsonaro could no longer run for office until 2030as punishment for using government resources to sow distrust in the electoral system.
And in November 2024, the federal police officially defendant Bolsonaro and 36 allies are conspiring to overturn the results of the 2022 election. Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet has yet to decide whether to formally indict the former president.
Other investigations investigated whether Bolsonaro embezzled jewelry from Saudi Arabia while on duty or spreading misinformation during Covid-19 pandemic.
However, on Wednesday, Bolsonaro claimed on social media that US President-elect Donald Trump had invited him to Washington, DC, for his January 20 inauguration.
“My lawyer, Dr. Paulo Bueno, has already forwarded the request to Minister Alexandre de Moraes to get my passport back so that I can attend this honorable and important historical event,” Bolsonaro wrote.
His passport was confiscated during the ongoing investigation.
