Lula vows 'no pardon' for Jan 8 rioters as Brazil marks anniversary

On Monday, the nation commemorated the first anniversary of the assaults, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned that supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro who rioted in the capital a year ago would not be pardoned.

Speaking in the main lobby of Congress in Brasilia, one of three institutions that day that were overrun by far-right rioters, along with the Supreme Court and the presidential palace next door, the seasoned communist stated that Brazil’s democracy needed to be safeguarded.

“All those who financed, planned and committed this coup attempt must be made examples of and punished. There can be no pardon for those who attack democracy,” Lula, 78, told a ceremony that included top figures from all three branches of government.

“Pardon would look like impunity, and impunity would look like a free pass for new terrorist attacks on our country. We saved democracy… But democracy must be built and protected every day.”

After just one week in office, thousands of supporters of far-right former president Bolsonaro, incensed by his accusations of election fraud, stormed the halls of power, trashed the premises, and demanded that the military remove Lula. Lula was the leader of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

The disturbances bore striking similarities to the US Capitol takeover in Washington nearly two years prior, carried out by followers of Bolsonaro’s political idol, former President Donald Trump.

The event exposed the violent rifts that had been ripping across Brazil since Lula’s close victory against Bolsonaro in October of last year.

‘Democracy prevailed’

Bolsonaro, who was in the United States at the time, is under investigation for allegedly instigating the unrest.

He denies involvement. He called the events of January 8 a “setup” orchestrated by the left, in comments Saturday to CNN Brasil.

“We repudiated it from the start,” he said. “That’s never been the way the right behaves.”

Lula called the former president a “coup-monger” in his speech, recalling relentless efforts by Bolsonaro and his supporters to raise doubts over the credibility of Brazil’s electronic voting system.

The fallout from the riots continues.

Police said they carried out new raids Monday to track down those who planned and financed the attacks.

Of the 2,170 people arrested over the riots, 30 have been convicted so far, on charges including armed criminal conspiracy, violent uprising against the rule of law and an attempted coup, with sentences of up to 17 years.

The riots were the culmination of months of tension in Brazil around the October 2022 elections, in which Lula narrowly beat Bolsonaro to return to office for a third term.

On the surface, the country’s divisions are less extreme today: The far-right is still reeling from backlash to the riots, as well as electoral authorities’ decision last June to bar Bolsonaro from running for office for eight years over his attacks on the credibility of the election system.

But deep-running fissures remain. A Quaest poll published Sunday found 51 percent say the riots were carried out by “radicals who do not represent” Bolsonaro supporters.

Restored artworks

The ceremony, dubbed “Democracy Unbowed,” featured the presentation of a restored tapestry by Brazilian artist and landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx, which rioters ripped from a wall in the Senate, tore and urinated on during the attacks.

A replica of the constitution taken from the Supreme Court was also symbolically returned.

Attendees included the leader of the Senate, state governors, military commanders and foreign ambassadors.

But the display of democratic unity was undermined by some notable absences on the right, such as Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio Freitas, a former Bolsonaro minister touted as a possible presidential contender.

Hardline Bolsonaro backers meanwhile stand staunchly by the January 8 protesters.

In the buildup to the anniversary, calls circulated on social media to celebrate January 8 as “Patriot’s Day” and take to the streets.

But on Monday in the country’s two largest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate and defend democracy — and repudiate last year’s unrest in Brasilia.

“The extreme right cannot advance. If it advances here, it advances around the world,” said Jorge Louis Viera de Souza, a 72-year-old retiree demonstrating in Rio, noting he felt like Brazil pulled back from “the edge of the precipice” a year ago.