By Biodun Busari

Brazilian security forces on Monday detained over 1,500 people in connection with the invasion and rioting at Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace at the country’s capital, Brasilia.

The rioters, who were the supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, in their thousands, stormed government buildings in the capital on Sunday.

Thousands of demonstrators ransacked the Congress building and vandalised glasses and valuables at the presidential palace, and Supreme Court yesterday.

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A Supreme Court judge has ordered that camps outside the army’s headquarters in the capital and at other sites be dismantled.

Bolsonaro lost the presidential election to left-wing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in October after sowing unconfirmed claims about voting systems.

Many of his supporters have refused to accept the result and some have been camping outside army buildings around the country calling for military intervention.

Bolsonaro has denied encouraging Sunday’s attack, saying what happened had gone beyond democratic protest.

While world leaders including US President Joe Biden have condemned the riots as an attack on democracy, Lula has vowed that the demonstrators will not go unpunished.