Lula criticizes police for protesters' breach of govt buildings

BRASILIA: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio 'Lula' da Silva on Monday (local time) criticised the police for protesters' breach of government buildings, presidential palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court in the capital, Brasilia on Sunday, reported CNN.

"The Brasilia police neglected (the attack threat), Brasilia's intelligence neglected it," Lula said during a meeting with governors.

"It is easy to see in the footage of the police officers talking to the attackers. There was an explicit connivance of the police with the demonstrators," he said. He also vowed to find out who financed the protesters.

Protesters supporting the far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro besieged government buildings on Sunday, calling for the military to intervene and oust the leftist hero Lula da Silva, who returned to power after a 12-year hiatus following a slim run-off victory over Bolsonaro last October.

Footage shared of the attack appeared to show forces standing by and watching protesters march into government buildings, reported CNN.

Prior to the attack, Bolsonaro supporters had been camped outside army barracks across the country as they implored a military intervention to reverse his loss in the 2022 presidential vote. Police made more than 1,500 arrests and Lula said officials were investigating those who financed the 'coup acts'.

The government is also investigating the financiers and organizers of the protests, Dino said, adding that a tip-off email account had since received 13,000 messages.

The attack bore similarities to the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol in Washington DC, when supporters of ex-US President Donald Trump a close ally of Bolsonaro stormed Congress in an effort to prevent the certification of his election defeat.

Meanwhile, Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted a photo of himself on a hospital bed in Orlando, Florida, on Monday, saying it was related to injuries from a 2018 knife attack during a political rally, reported CNN.

Bolsonaro left Brazil for the US on Dec. 30, 2022 -- just two days before Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's inauguration and was admitted into the Florida hospital after suffering from abdominal 'discomfort', according to an Instagram post from his wife Michelle Bolsonaro.

In the latest development, Brazil police found five hand grenades on the premises of the Supreme Court and Congress after the Sunday attacks on government buildings in Brasilia, Brazilian Sen Randolfe Rodrigues told CNN Brasil on Monday.

Rodrigues, who will be leading President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government in Congress, said three of the grenades were found in the Supreme Court and two in Congress.

In a tweet that he later deleted, the senator described the individuals behind the attacks as 'terrorists' who wanted to destroy the Supreme Court, the Presidential Palace and Congress.

In a separate tweet, he called on security forces to identify all those who were involved in the attacks on government buildings.