Residents from all over Brazil were invited to a “party” on social networks: the party invitations were a series of thinly veiled metaphors for meeting in a complex of government buildings known as Praça dos Três Poderes (Plaza de los Tres Poderes) outside the Congress to protest the results of the elections. The main one was an invitation for Brazilians to attend the Fiesta de Selma.
Selma is a play on words jungle, which in Portuguese translates as jungle, is also used by the Brazilian military as a rallying cry. The protesters were staunch supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and were calling on the new president, leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to leave, falsely claiming he won a stolen election.
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Before the violent protest, influencers on social media platforms invited “patriots” to Festa da Selma.
In a viral video, a man describes the ingredients for the party, including a Brazilian brand of sugar called Union and five large heads of corn. Corn is another pun. millho means corn and milhao means a million. The suggestion is that five million people were invited to attend the protest.
One of the first to use Selma’s Party was a now-deleted Twitter profile @Fernand58617686, whose bio read: “God, Country, family and freedom. Conservative, Right.”
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In another now-suspended Twitter account, @VanessasDire, he wrote: “Selma’s party is going to be great today. Guests keep coming! She asked you to make this invitation viral! Admission is free for all Brazilian patriots except for children and the elderly. . It’s going to be the best show ever, don’t miss it Cheers Selma.”
Organizers published dates, times and routes for the “Freedom Caravans” that would pick up people in at least six Brazilian states and transport them to the party. The posts advertised “free buses” with “everything free: water, coffee, lunch, dinner.”
On Sunday, the online activism culminated with buses full of people landing in the capital, Brasília. The protesters, dressed in the nation’s green and yellow colors, smashed windows and furniture and tore up documents before police forced them back onto the streets.
Following the riots, Brazilian authorities detained some 1,500 supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who took part in riots against Congress, the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva has promised consequences for those who participated and has opened an investigation into how the riot was financed.
“We will not let democracy get out of hand,” da Silva said Monday night. “In the name of defending democracy, we will not act authoritarian towards anyone, but we will not take them lightly either. We will investigate and find out who funded it.”
In a series of tweets, Bolsonaro condemned the “depredations and invasions of public buildings,” according to a translation of his tweet.
President Joe Biden condemned Sunday’s violent protest while traveling through El Paso, Texas, calling it “outrageous.”
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National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted“The United States condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil. President Biden is closely monitoring the situation, and our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazil’s democracy will not be shaken by violence.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote that the United States condemns the attacks, saying: “Using violence to attack democratic institutions is always unacceptable. We join @lulaoficial in urging an immediate end to these actions.”
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On Monday, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, declared the riots “an event of violation” and said it would remove “content that supports or praises these actions.”
