JAKARTA - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio CLA da Silva believes security forces were involved in allowing anti-governmental masses to storm Brasilia, pledging to get rid of its predecessor's strong supporters on Thursday.
The task of filtering out the actors would be complicated, his senior aide said, but investigations have begun to see who is responsible for allowing former President Jair Bolsonaro's supporters to storm and damage the presidential palace.
"Many are involved among military police. There are many people from the armed forces involved," President Lala told reporters.
"I believe the palace door is opened for these people to enter, because I didn't see the door broken," he continued.
Furthermore, President Lula also stepped up criticism of the army for not doing anything to prevent the two-month-old camp of Bolsonaro supporters outside his headquarters, where they demanded the military cancel the results of the October election.
The Brazilian army did not respond to requests for comment.
Thousands of demonstrators calling for a military coup to overthrow President Lula and return Bolsonaro's power to storm the Supreme Court, Congress, and presidential palace on Sunday, leaving traces of destroyed windows, furniture, computers and works of art.
Police forces in charge of public security in the Brazilian capital did not stop crowds moving forward into the building, and some were seen in images of social media taking selfies and chatting with demonstrators.
Riot police dispersed the masses with tear gas and arrested some 1,800 protesters after President Lula ordered the federal government to intervene in local security.
Meanwhile, Brasilia Governor Ibaneis Rocha, an ally of Bolsonaro, was among the first to be blamed for security deviations. He was suspended from his post on Sunday by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also ordered the arrest of his head of security and police chief.
The army Battalion assigned to guard the presidential palace also did not respond until rioters entered and destroyed the palace, according to a Reuters witness.
Four staff on duty from the National Security Adviser (GSI) office were quickly overwhelmed inside the presidential palace and their offices were searched. They witnessed protesters kicking the door into President Lula's office but failed to enter.
A presidential spokesman told the computer was taken from the office of the National Security Adviser and the hard drive containing classified information has been lost. The Taser gun case was vacated, said a spokesman for Guto Guterres.
Presidential Chief of Staff Rui Costa said the government is now facing the challenge of "contaminating" the security forces, holding those responsible accountable.
"We have several institutions that have been contaminated with hatred against Bolsonarista by the perpetrators of the far-right coup," said Primere's Institutional Relations Minister Fadilha.
However, government officials say it remains unclear how soldiers or police, who sympathize with the calls of demonstrators for a military coup, will be identified or removed.
One of the ideas raised by President Lula's aides, aimed at preventing the politicization of security forces, is limiting military and police officers from running in elections.
It is known that the Brazilian Congress has many retirees and even active officers touting their military or police credentials, as part of their legal appeal and order.
"Military participation and excessive military police in politics are increasingly leading to ideological contamination of troops," Costa said.
On Wednesday, President Lula vetoed part of a bill passed by Congress under Bolsonaro that would guarantee the right of police officers to participate in political demonstrations.
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