Security forces detain supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro during a demonstration against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
SAO PAULO, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Brazil’s federal police said on Wednesday they were carrying out fresh raids and arrests as part of an investigation into the Jan. 8 riots in the country’s capital, Brasilia, in which supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings.
Police, according to a statement, were serving five arrest warrants and 13 search-and-seizure warrants ordered by the Supreme Court in three states and the Federal District, where Brasilia is located.
The raids represent the 19th phase of an operation launched in mid-January to identify people who participated in, funded or fostered the riots, in which a crowd invaded and ransacked the Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.
Police did not disclose the names of those targeted in the raids, but said they were being investigated for crimes of “violent abolition of the rule of law, coup d’état, qualified damage, criminal association, incitement, destruction and damage of specially protected property.”
Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven Grattan
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