What is happening in Brazil?

In October 2021, Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected President of Brazil. He had defeated President Bolsonaro.

The defeated politician, Mr. Bolsonaro, alleged that the voting system was rigged (rigged means, cheated, or tampered with in such a way that a certain decision or counting of votes is shown.)

Mr. Bolsonaro challenged the results of the election in Court. He lost the case.

In December 2022, Mr. Bolsonaro left Brazil and came to USA for medical treatment.

On January 1, Mr. Lula took charge as the President of Brazil.

President Lula, Image from his official Twitter account

On 8th January 2023, supporters of Mr. Bolsonaro stormed the government buildings in Brasilia – the capital of Brazil.

Many buildings were damaged. Mr. Bolsonaro, tweeting from the US, said that these protests “crossed a line”.

Crossing a line is an idiom that means doing something that is not acceptable. For example, you may not do your homework and apologise to the teacher for not bringing it. But if you shout at the teacher, or are rude about not doing homework, that is crossing a line.

The Aftermath

The Governor of Brasilia, Mr. Ibaneis Rocha, was suspended (removed from his position) for 90 days by the Supreme Court for not being able to prevent the rioters.

The National Guard of Brazil was called into Brasilia to stop the action. 1500 people have been arrested so far and more are being arrested.

Has this also happened elsewhere?

Yes. Many times, the supporters of the losing party do create disturbance as the new party takes oath. But the most famous such incident happened on 6th January 2021 in USA.

The same thing was done by supporters of President Trump in the US – the results of the election were questioned. Supporters then made their way physically to Capitol Hill – the administrative buildings of the government.

Those protestors are now undergoing trial in the US.