Brazil’s Federal Police on Thursday began serving dozens of search warrants targeting supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro for blocking roads after his electoral defeat, authorities said.
The operation was ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also heads the nation’s electoral authority. He is responsible for two investigations of Bolsonaro supporters for alleged anti-democratic acts and the spread of false news on social media about the elections.
The Supreme Court said in a statement that the investigation into the 81 search warrants is proceeding under secrecy and police said the warrants were being carried out in seven states and the Federal District. Separately, Federal Police agents carried out 23 raids and at least four preventive detentions in the state of Espirito Santo related to electoral fake news, police said.
Many analysts have expressed concern that Bolsonaro has been laying the groundwork for an insurrection in the mold of the riots at the US Capitol.
BRAZIL’S BOLSONARO SAYS SUPREME COURT ELECTIONS ‘ARE OVER’
For more than three weeks after the October 30 elections, some of his supporters, refusing to accept their narrow defeat to his leftist nemesis, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, blocked approximately 1,000 highways across the country until they the federal highway police began to work to clear the way.
Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro set vehicles on fire and allegedly attempted to storm the Federal Police headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil, on December 12, 2022.
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Federal highway police have said that protesters blocking highways in Santa Catarina state, for example, used “terrorist” methods including pipe bombs, fireworks, nails, stones and barricades made from burned tires.
There have only been isolated incidents since police cleared roads there, though they noted in a November 21 statement that most acts of resistance now take place at night, carried out by “extremely violent and coordinated hooded men” who They act simultaneously in different regions. of the State.
ELECTIONS IN BRAZIL: BOLSONARO ADDRESSES THE NATION, PROMISES FIDELITY TO THE CONSTITUTION, ASKS FOR THE END OF OBSTACLES
Bolsonaro has rarely addressed the nation since his electoral defeat. After staying out of the public eye for more than a month, he delivered his first speech in front of the presidential residence on December 9, saying that he is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and that every citizen must work to build a future better. For the country.
His supporters remain camped out in front of military buildings in several state capitals, calling for the intervention of the armed forces. Most of the demonstrations are peaceful, but the tactics deployed by hardcore participants have begun to worry the authorities.
On December 12 in the capital Brasilia, Bolsonaro supporters clashed with police after setting fire to several vehicles and buses and allegedly trying to invade a federal police building. No one was identified or arrested by police at the time, according to authorities.
Vice President Hamilton Mourão has become a mouthpiece for the president, saying in interviews with local press and a recently published column that protesters must stand firm while condemning violent acts.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“The clamor of protests that we have seen since the announcement of the election result… is legitimate, however much some have tried to describe it as ‘undemocratic,'” Mourão wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
