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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Tom Phillips in Brasília, Andrew Downie and Constance Malleret in Rio de Janeiro

Brazil envoy decries ‘grotesque and failed assault’ on democracy

Brazil's flag is reflected on a broken window after supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro rioted  in Brasília, Brazil, on 9 January 2023.
Brazil's flag is reflected on a broken window after supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro rioted in Brasília, Brazil, on 9 January 2023. Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

The far-right storming of Brazil’s supreme court, congress and presidential palace was a “grotesque and failed assault” on its institutions, the country’s ambassador to the UK has said, as troops moved in to break up protest camps set up by supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro.

A day after the would-be insurrectionists attacked all three branches of government in a brazen effort to topple the democratically elected government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Fred Arruda, Brazil’s ambassador in London, said: “What happened in Brasília yesterday was a grotesque and failed assault on our institutions. As President Lula put it, democracy requires people to respect the institutions.”

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