Former Justice Minister Anderson Torres
Brazilian judicial authorities have ordered the arrest of senior government officials following rioters stormed key government offices in Brasilia.
One of the officials, the former commander of the military police, was arrested, local media reported.
Also among those responsible, the public prosecutor’s office said, were Brasilia’s former public security chief Anderson Torres and others “responsible for acts and omissions” that led to the riots.
Torres denies any role in the riots.
Colonel Fabio Augusto, the police chief, was dismissed following supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court.
The riots came a week following President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, widely known as Lula, was sworn in.
In dramatic scenes, thousands of demonstrators, some of whom were wearing yellow Brazil soccer jerseys and waving flags, managed to bypass police and loot the heart of the Brazilian state.
Of the roughly 1,500 people arrested and taken to the police academy following the riot, officials say, nearly 600 have been transferred to other facilities, where police officials have five days to formally charge them.
Earlier Tuesday, a federal public safety official charged Torres with being responsible for “organised sabotage.”
Ricardo Capelli, who was assigned to Brasilia’s security department, said there was a “lack of leadership” by Torres before storming government buildings.
Lula’s January 1 inauguration was “a very successful security operation,” Capelli told CNN.
What changed before Sunday was that on January 2, “Anderson Torres took over as Minister of Security, dismissed the entire leadership and left,” he said.
“If that’s not sabotage, I don’t know what is,” Capelli added.
Torres said he deeply regrets the “absurd hypothesis” that he played any role in the riots.
He said the scenes, which occurred during his family holiday, were unfortunate and that it was the “most bitter day” of his personal and professional life.
Lula accused the security forces of “neglecting” their duty not to stop “terrorist acts” in Brasilia.
On Tuesday, prosecutors asked a federal audit court to freeze Bolsonaro’s assets in light of the recent riots.
The former president, who condemned the riots, did not concede defeat in the October elections that divided the country, and traveled to the United States before handing over office on January 1. On Monday, he was taken to hospital in Florida with abdominal pain.
On Tuesday, Bolsonaro said he planned to return to Brazil, telling CNN he would bring forward his departure from the United States, which was originally scheduled for the end of January.
After a day of rioting, heavily armed officers began dismantling a camp of Bolsonaro supporters in Brasilia, one of a number of camps set up outside army barracks across the country since the presidential election.
Torres, who previously served as justice minister in Bolsonaro’s government, was sacked from his post as public security minister on Sunday by Brasilia’s governor Ibañes Rocha.
Rocha himself was later removed from office for 90 days by the Supreme Court.
Lula also targeted the security forces, accusing them of “incompetence, bad faith or malice” for failing to prevent protesters from reaching parliament.
He said, “You’ll see in the pictures that they are [ضباط الشرطة] They direct people to walk to Praca dos Tres Powers.” “We will find out who are the financiers of these vandals who went to Brasília and they will all pay the price by force of law,” he added.
A video clip published by the Brazilian newspaper “O Globo” showed some officers laughing and taking pictures together, while demonstrators occupied the parliament campus in the background.
Protesters have gathered since Sunday morning on lawns in front of parliament and along the kilometer-long Esplanada Avenue, lined with government ministries and national monuments.
Despite the protesters’ actions, in the hours leading up to the chaos, security seemed tight, with roads closed around the parliament area and armed police guarding every entrance to the area.
The BBC saw regarding 50 police officers on Sunday morning local time. Cars were denied entry, while police searched the bags of those entering on foot.
According to the BBC’s Katie Watson in South America, some of the protesters are not only angry that Bolsonaro lost the election, they want President Lula back in prison.
She said Bolsonaro had remained silent since losing the October elections, adding that by not publicly acknowledging defeat he had allowed his ardent supporters to remain angry at the democratic elections he legitimately lost.
The former president condemned the attack and denied his responsibility for encouraging the rioters in a tweet regarding six hours following the violence erupted.
On Tuesday, his son, Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, said people should not try to link his father to the riots, noting that he had been silently “licking his wounds” since losing the election.
