Brazilian Legislator Says Weapons Stolen From Planalto Palace During Attack

A Brazilian legislator claimed weapons were stolen from a security office after supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the Supreme Court in Brasilia on Sunday, January 8.

In this video, Legislative Deputy and Chief Minister of the Secretariat for Social Communication Paulo Pimenta says the empty cases strewn around the room, referred to as the “GSI” (Gabinete de Segurança Institucional/Institutional Security Office) room, had contained “lethal and non-lethal weapons” that were stolen, according to a translation by Storyful.

Other videos show Pimenta surveying damage in Planalto Palace on Sunday evening. In the videos, Pimenta refers to the trespassers as “terrorists.”

At least 300 people were arrested in connection with the storming of the Brazilian Supreme Court and Congress by Sunday night, local media reported.

In an address on Sunday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned the protesters and signed a decree declaring federal intervention in Brasilia.

Bolsonaro also addressed the incident in a tweet on Sunday evening, saying that peaceful demonstrations were “part of democracy,” but that “depredations and invasions of public buildings such as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule,” according to a machine translation. Credit: Paulo Pimenta via Storyful