Security was increased in Brasilia on Wednesday 11 as supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro promised new demonstrations just days after unrest that alarmed the Brazilian capital.
Demonstrations slated for many cities on Wednesday evening were reluctant to get started, however, with officers in anti-riot gear and helicopter backup left twiddling their thumbs for what had been described as a massive mobilization.
In contrast to the "gigantic" gathering that Bolsonaro's successor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vowed would "take power back," AFP saw essentially no turnout in Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo.
Law student Luis Augusto Gomes Machado, one of only two demonstrators in Sao Paulo, said he came "to defend free expression, which is a constitutional right." The 20-year-old said that while he disagreed with Lula, he was opposed to Bolsonaro supporters' Sunday brazen denigration of the president, Congress, and Supreme Court in Brasilia.
Authorities shut Wednesday access lanes to the capital's Esplanade of Ministries in an effort to stop a repetition of the rioting that broke out on Sunday. All of the government's ministries are located on the esplanade, along with the three structures that were attacked on Sunday.
Bolsonaro supporters were urged to turn out in Brasilia and other cities in a nation that had been sharply divided by the elections in October, in which leftist Lula had narrowly defeated far-right Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro's staunchest supporters have been calling for the military to overthrow Lula ever since he lost to him.
And on Sunday, hundreds of protesters attacked the symbolic places of power while wearing the Brazilian flag's yellow and green, which Bolsonaro and his supporters have appropriated as a sign of nationalist passion. They battled with police, assaulted journalists, and left a path of damage; Lula dubbed them "fanatical fascists."
Hundreds have been jailed and Brasilia has been silent since police on Monday picked up so-called "bolsonaristas" who had been camping out in the capital since October. A survey conducted by the Sao Paulo-based data company Atlas Intelligence on Wednesday found that almost one in five Brazilians approved of Sunday's capital rampage.
The organizers and financiers of the rebellion are being sought after by authorities. The demonstrators were referred to by Lula as "a group of crazy people who do not understand that the election is over" when he met with members of Congress on Wednesday in Brasilia.
Authorities filed arrest warrants for Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro's justice minister, and two other former top officials over the rioting on Tuesday. Following the events of Sunday, he and military police commander Fabio Augusto lost their jobs as Brasilia's security chiefs.
