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By Simone Carter
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In an eerie echo to the U.S. Capitol riot two years ago, supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country's Congress building on Sunday, according to multiple reports.
Also targeting the country's Supreme Court and presidential palace, throngs of the far-right former president's followers managed to get past security barriers, according to CNN. Video and images taken on the ground show large groups of people swarming the government buildings.
The news comes around a week after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated following an October run-off election that delivered Bolsonaro a defeat. Bolsonaro, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, had previously received the nickname, the "Trump of the tropics." Angry Bolsonaro followers have demonstrated against his loss since October and repeatedly called for the election to be overturned.
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Local Brazilian media outlets have estimated that thousands of pro-Bolsonaro protesters had forced their way into the buildings, Reuters reported. Some were caught on video destroying furniture inside Congress.
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Bolsonaro fled his own country for Florida ahead of the end of his term. Lula, meanwhile, reportedly isn't inside the presidential palace, and Brazil's Congress isn't in session at the moment.
Lula condemned the attack as "barbarism" during a televised address on Sunday and vowed that those involved will be "punished," according to The Guardian. He also railed against law enforcement for not doing enough to quell the violence, saying: "The police didn't do anything at all. They just let the protesters in."
In addition, Lula lashed out against the "fanatic fascists" behind the day's events.
CNN reported on Sunday evening that roughly 30 arrests have been made so far, although the exact total is unclear.
On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Like Trump, Bolsonaro has repeatedly cast doubt on his own country's voting system—claims bought by many of his supporters.
Videos of the break-in on Sunday quickly began to circulate on social media.
"URGENT: Bolsonaristas manage to invade the area of Planalto Palace," tweeted The Bulwark's Tim Miller, along with a video showing hordes of Brazilians—many of whom were dressed in green and yellow—headed toward the building.
"Here is the view from the entrance," tweeted David Adler, general coordinator of Progressive International, along with a video of the unfolding chaos at Brazil's congress. "January 6 parallel is impossible to miss."
Later, Adler tweeted another video that depicted Bolsonaro supporters inside the Planalto Palace as it got ransacked. He also noted that "police presence is nowhere in sight."
Sotiri Dimpinoudis, an independent freelance journalist, tweeted video that showed several people inside Brazil's National Congress building after "overwhelming the police."
Dimpinoudis also posted a clip of an angry mob using force to push their way past barricades and overpower law enforcement.
In yet another video from Dimpinoudis, a man in a yellow shirt is seen with a bloody bandage around his leg as he's carried on a makeshift stretcher by fellow protesters.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan blasted the events via a tweet on Sunday afternoon.
"The United States condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil," he wrote. "President Biden is following the situation closely and our support for Brazil's democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazil's democracy will not be shaken by violence."
Democratic U.S. lawmakers were also quick to compare the raid of Brazil's Congress to the January 6, 2021, insurrection. Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas tweeted his support for Lula.
"Domestic terrorists and fascists cannot be allowed to use Trump's playbook to undermine democracy," he wrote. "Bolsonaro must not be given refuge in Florida, where he's been hiding from accountability for his crimes."
Representative Raul M. Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, tweeted that Sunday's events could be "directly tied to Trump and the Republicans' emboldening of fascism and violent extremism."
He continued: "Any Republican member who condemns this, but refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election is a hypocrite. I condemn this brazen attack on democracy."
Bolsonaro's divisive rhetoric mirrors that used by Trump, according to Wendy Via, president of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.
Far-right political leaders like Bolsonaro and Trump "push for a world where people and communities are separated by race, religion, and nationality, and they work to empower the exclusionary and anti-democratic traits of extremism and reject diverse and flourishing global democracies," Via told Newsweek in an emailed statement on Sunday.
She continued: "Our hold on the far-right is a hair's breadth from the destruction of democracy and absolutely none of the events and elections where extremists show their true colors should be taken lightly."
Newsweek reached out to Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
Updated 1/8/2023, 5:50 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information.
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