The Brazilian Supreme Court on Friday approved an investigation to determine whether former president Jair Bolsonaro sparked the unrest in the nation’s capital on January 8.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes granted the request from the prosecutor general’s office, which referenced a video Bolsonaro uploaded on Facebook two days after the disturbance. In that video, Bolsonaro claimed Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wasn’t voted into office but was chosen by the Supreme Court and Brazil’s electoral authority, and now his supporters chant the same as they do not support Lula’s narrow victory.
The Brazilian authorities are investigating who gave Bolsonaro’s extremist followers permission to invade the Supreme Court, Congress, and the presidential residence in an effort to void the results of the election in October.
The Supporters of the former Brazil president broke into the country’s Congressional building, Supreme Court, and the Presidential palace on January 8. The breaches came about a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in a run-off election on October 30.
Videos on social media showed Bolsonaro supporters smashing windows and furniture in the National Congress and Supreme Court buildings on Sunday.
They climbed onto the roof of the Congress building, where Brazil’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies conduct their legislative business, unfurling a banner that read ‘intervention’ and an apparent appeal to Brazil’s military. Security forces used tear gas in an effort to push back the demonstrators with local media estimating about 3,000 people were involved in the incident.
