JAKARTA - Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has denied allegations he incited the raid on government buildings by his supporters on Sunday, as his predecessor alleged.
Bolsonaro said the accusations made by President Luiz Inacio CLAda da Silva were "without evidence".
Supporters Bolsonaro, who have not acknowledged the elections held in October, stormed the building of Congress, Supreme Court, and the presidential palace in Brasilia on Sunday. At least one police vehicle was burned in the incident.
Protesters who carried out the raid, some carried national flags, shattered windows and threw furniture in an incident reminiscent of a raid on US Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 by Donald Trump supporters.
"As long as my mandate, I have always been in the four lines of the Constitution, respecting and defending the law, democracy, transparency, and our sacred freedoms," Bolsonaro wrote on Twitter.
"The peaceful demonstration is part of democracy. However, the destruction and invasion of public buildings as is happening today, no," he said.
- Manifestações pacíficas, na forma da lei, fazem parte da democracia. Contudo, depredações e invasões de prédios públicos como ocorridos no dia de hoje, assim como os praticados pela esquerda em 2013 e 2017, fogem à regra.
— Jair M. Bolsonaro 2️⃣2️⃣ (@jairbolsonaro) January 9, 2023
Riots in Brasilia, the administrative capital, came after weeks of protests by Bolsonaro supporters who refused to recognize President Lula's victory which was sworn in last week.
The crowd was eventually dispersed by the police, but they left messages written on the walls, including calls for "military intervention" and one complaint about "poor".
As previously reported, President Lula accused former President Bolsonaro of inciting attacks through his speech.
"There were several speeches from the former president pushing for this. And this is also his responsibility and those who support him," he wrote on Twitter.
"They capitalized on silence on Sunday, while we were still preparing the government to do what they did."
The president, who is visiting the flood-hit city of Araraquara in the southeastern state of Sao Paulo, flew back to Brasilia to oversee responses to what he called a "fassist" attack.
President Lula said the local military police force, who reported to the Governor of Brasilia Ibaneis Rocha, a former ally of Bolsonaro, had not done anything to stop the protesters from moving forward.
The Supreme Court, which describes rioters as "terrorists", removed the governor from office for 90 days for failing to protect state buildings.
So far, Brazilian state media have reported at least 170 people have been arrested in connection with Sunday's raid.
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