By Ben Kerrigan-
New president of Brazil Lula Lula has vowed to punish rebellious protesters who stormed the building in demonstration and anger against the election results.
Supporters of the ousted far-right leader, Bosnoraro, also stormed the Supreme Court of Brazil and surrounded the presidential palace, in protest against Lula’s election victory.
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Police regained control of the buildings in the capital Brasilia on Sunday evening after hours of clashes.
Around 200 people have already been arrested.
The dramatic scenes – which saw thousands of protesters clad in yellow Brazil football shirts and flags overrun police and ransack the heart of the Brazilian state – come just a week after Lula’s inauguration.
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The veteran left-wing leader was forced to declare emergency powers before dispatching the national guard into the capital to restore order.
He has also ordered the closure of the centre of the capital – including the main avenue where governmental buildings are – for 24 hours.
Mr Dino said some 40 busses which had been used to transport protesters to the capital had been seized, and he called the invasion an “absurd attempt to impose [the protesters’] will by force”.
Mr Bolsonaro. much like Donald Trump did after the U.S 2020 elections, has repeatedly refused to accept that he lost October’s election and last week left the country instead of taking part in inaugural ceremonies, which would have seen him hand over the iconic presidential sash.
The 67-year-old – who is believed to be in Florida – condemned the attack and denied responsibility for encouraging the rioters in a post on Twitter, hours after violence broke out.
Speaking before he arrived in Brasilia, Lula said there was “no precedent in the history of our country” for the scenes seen in Brasilia and called the violence the “acts of vandals and fascists”.
He criticised security forces whom he accused of “incompetence, bad faith or malice” in the failure to stop demonstrators accessing Congress.
“You will see in the images that they [police officers] are guiding people on the walk to Praca dos Tres Powers,” he said. “We are going to find out who the financiers of these vandals who went to Brasilia are and they will all pay with the force of law.”
Video shared by the Brazilian outlet O Globo showed some officers laughing and taking photos together as demonstrators occupied the congressional campus in the background.
US President Joe Biden tweeted: “I condemn the assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil. Brazil’s democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined.”
Some protesters smashed windows, while others reached the Senate chamber, where they jumped on to seats and used benches as slides.
Videos on social media show protesters pulling a policeman from his horse and attacking him outside the building.
Footage broadcast by national media show police detaining dozens of protesters in their yellow jerseys outside the presidential palace.
Protesters had been gathering since morning on the lawns in front of the parliament and up and down the kilometre of the Esplanada avenue, which is lined with government ministries and national monuments.
President tours scene of riot and orders federal government to take control of policing in capital Brasília as extremists refuse to accept his presidency
Lula was not in Brasília at the time of the attack but he gave an angry speech blaming Bolsonaro for the chaos and promising that “anyone involved will be punished”.
Calling those who took part in the attacks “vandals, neo-fascists and fanatics”, Lula ordered a federal intervention in the capital, bringing policing under the control of the central government.
“What we are witnessing is a terrorist attack,” the news anchor Erick Bang announced on the GloboNews television network as word of the upheaval spread. “The three buildings have been invaded by coup-mongering terrorists.”
“It was much worse than what happened at the Capitol,” the former supreme court judge Marco Aurélio Mello told the O Globo newspaper on Sunday night after police made at least 300 arrests relating to the attack.
Shocking video footage showed pro-Bolsonaro militants sprinting up the ramp into the Palácio do Planalto, the presidential offices, roaming the building’s corridors and vandalising the nearby supreme court, whose windows had been smashed.
Videos posted on social media showed fires burning inside the congress building. Furniture was broken and tossed around, objects were reportedly stolen in the presidential palace and the supreme court, and in some places sprinklers appeared to be dousing chambers.
“They are throwing chairs out of the windows,” said another bewildered GloboNews commentator, Eliane Cantanhêde. “They are destroying public buildings.”
Security had appeared tight, with the roads closed for about a block around the parliament area and armed police pairs guarding every entrance into the area.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Brazil had his country’s “full support in the face of this cowardly and vile attack on democracy”.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said “fascism [had] decided to stage a coup”.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Mexico expressed “full support for President Lula’s administration, elected by popular will”.
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French President Emmanuel Macron said the “will of the Brazilian people and the democratic institutions must be respected” and pledged the “unfailing support of France” to Lula.