3 mistakes that led to the invasion of Congress, the Presidency and the Supreme Court in Brasilia

Underestimated alerts, delay in the mobilization of troops and leniency with the camp of the Bolsonaristas in Brasilia.

These were the three main errors that public security experts pointed out to BBC News Brazil and which, according to them, would have led to the invasion of the Planalto Palace, the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF). The buildings are the headquarters of the three Powers of the Republic.

LOOK: How the assault of thousands of Bolsonaro followers on the headquarters of the three powers in Brazil occurred

On Sunday, thousands of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro occupied the Esplanade of the Ministries, in the central area of ​​Brasilia and, from there, invaded and destroyed the facilities of the Planalto Palace, the Congress and the STF.

The invasion followed of various appeals on social networks, like WhatsApp groups. The invaders called for the closure of the National Congress, military intervention and were against the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In response, Lula announced this Sunday a federal intervention in the area of ​​public security in the Federal District.

To reach the buildings, the invaders confronted military police and security teams from the STF, Congress and the Planalto Palace.

According to images and reports from television channels such as GloboNews, the Bolsonaristas extensive damage was done to all three buildings.

The invasion, however, took place in one of the areas that supposedly should be better protected in the country.

Given this, the question that experts have been asking themselves in recent hours is: what mistakes did the authorities make that led to the invasion of three of the most important buildings in Brazil?

1. Underestimated alerts

The possibility of invading public buildings in the Explanada de los Ministerios and Plaza de los Tres Poderes, in the central area of ​​Brasilia, had already been circulating in the Bolsonaro WhatsApp groups for at least four days.

Several calls were made on social networks and the expectation was that dozens of buses with supporters of Bolsonaro would arrive in Brasilia over the weekend.

BBC News Brazil had access to a video that circulated in one of these groups in which there is a clear call for the invasion.

“No one is talking about camping, nothing… we are talking about taking Brasilia like the people of Sri Lanka did,” says an excerpt from the video with images of the invasion of the presidential palace of the Asian country, in July 2022.

For the former Secretary of Public Security of the Federal District, Arthur Rodrigues, there was negligence on the part of the local security forces in relation to the magnitude of the demonstrations.

“This demonstration was planned and was public knowledge. It had long been known about the possibility of a riot. Clearly, the personnel deployed to attend this demonstration was not compatible with the size of the mobilization,” says the former secretary.

Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro break the glass of the Federal Supreme Court during the invasion of the building. (GETTY IMAGES).

Until now, no official figures have been released on the number of invaders and the number of military police present in the affected area.

The published images, however, show that the number of security agents it was far inferior to that of the invaders.

Images broadcast by television channels show a security agent mounted on horseback who is surrounded and attacked by Bolsonarists in the vicinity of the National Congress without any support or police reinforcement.

For the president of the board of directors of the Brazilian Forum of Public Security (FBSP), Cássio Rosa, the warnings about the demonstrations they were underestimated.

“The security apparatus deployed by the Federal District government was not adequate for the size of the demonstration. The local military police are extremely well trained to deal with crowds. If the personnel were compatible, we would hardly have had this type of invasion.” Rose stated.

BBC Brasil tried to contact the Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District but it did not respond to the questions put to it.

2. Delay in the use of the National Force

Another element highlighted by the specialists was the delay in the mobilization of troops from the National Force.

On Saturday, the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, announced that he authorized the use of force to guarantee security in the area of ​​the Explanada de los Ministerios due to the protests called by the Bolsonaristas.

“In addition to all the federal forces available in Brasilia, and the constitutional action of the Government of the Federal District, in the coming days we will have the help of the National Force,” Dino wrote on Twitter.

“Now I have signed an order that authorizes the action, in the face of threats against democracy,” he adds.

The initial forecast was that the strongest demonstration would take place on Monday, January 9. The authorization that Dino gave provided for the deployment of troops from the National Force between Saturday and Monday.

In the opinion of the former civilian police officer, political scientist and member of the FBSP, Guaracy Mingardi, there was a delay in the use of the Force.

“The federal government was slow to mobilize the National Force. The agents of this force, which is made up of military police from all over the country, should have been gathered earlier and put on standby. It is still too early to assess, but I think it could there was a lack of agility in this mobilization,” said Mingardi.

Arthur Rodrigues, in turn, considers that the call for the National Force may have had a collateral effect in relation to the final objective of the federal government, which was to guarantee the security of the Esplanade of the Ministries.

“The use of the National Force was innocuous because it relieved, to a certain extent, the responsibility of the Federal District government to guarantee security in the region, and placed it in the lap of the federal government. The military police are used to acting in that region,” Rodrigues said.

BBC Brasil contacted the Ministry of Justice about the complaints made by the experts interviewed in this report, but so far the agency has not responded.

A man throws an object at police officers during the invasion in Brasilia. (GETTY IMAGES).

3. Indulgence with the camp and Bolsonarista militants

Another point pointed out by specialists that could have contributed to the magnitude of the events this Sunday was the alleged indulgence of the authorities with the Bolsonarista camp in front of the Army Headquarters and with the violent militants who participated in acts of vandalism in the last weeks.

On December 12 of last year, the date on which Lula received the presidential diploma at the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), a group of Bolsonaristas set fire to cars and buses and tried to invade the headquarters of the Federal Police in Brasilia.

The events occurred after the arrest of a Bolsonaro indigenous determined by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court Alexandre de Moraes.

Despite the violence used by the militants, the military police of the Federal District did not arrest anyone, which generated criticism about an alleged collusion of the local security forces with Bolsonaristas.

Days later, however, a Bolsonaro militant was arrested for his links to an attempted bomb attack at the Brasilia International Airport.

George Washington de Sousa confessed to planting the bomb, according to police.

According to his testimony before the Civil Police of the Federal District, his intention was for the bomb to cause chaos and lead to the imposition of a state of siege before Lula’s inauguration as president.

In his testimony, Sousa said that he found militants willing to carry out the attack in the Bolsonarista camp in front of the Army Headquarters.

Nonetheless, the Federal District authorities did not demobilize the camp. Hundreds of people had occupied an area in front of the Force headquarters for just over a month.

Local government agents attempted to evict the camp, but were pushed back by the militants and withdrew.

In the days that followed, Bolsonaristas and militants, who favored agendas such as the closure of the National Congress and military intervention, continued to point to the camp in Brasilia as a meeting point for the group.

For Cássio Rosa, the way in which the local authorities treated both the camp and the acts of vandalism on December 12 fueled the episodes of this Sunday.

“The moments after last year’s vandalism were an opportunity to cool things down. It was an opportunity to negotiate, talk and get those people out of that camp, but unfortunately that didn’t happen,” he said.

Source: Elcomercio