Brazilians request prison for attackers in Brasilia, the government prepares charges against about a thousand

Thousands of Brazilians who took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Pablo on Monday denounced the sunday assault to the State facilities in Brasilia by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro with shouts and signs of “Amnesty no! Not amnesty! Not amnesty!”

The motto is a demand that the aggressors and those who allowed the attack be punished, and were a reference to an amnesty law that has protected for decades soldiers accused of abuses and murders during the dictatorship in Brazil from 1964 to 1985.

“These people must be punished, the people who ordered it must be punished, those who gave money for it must be punished,” Bety Amin, a 61-year-old therapist, said on Sao Paulo’s main boulevard.

Dressed in a T-shirt that had the word “DEMOCRACY” written on it, Bety affirmed that “they do not represent Brazil. We represent Brazil”.

Avoiding sanctions “may avoid tensions at the moment, but it perpetuates instability,” said Luis Felipe Miguel, a professor of political science at the University of Brasilia, in a column titled “Amnesty no” and published Monday afternoon.

“That is the lesson we should have learned from the end of the military dictatorship, when Brazil chose not to punish the regime’s murderers and torturers,” he said.

Brazilian police had already detained some 1,500 rioters on Monday, some of them in the act of vandalizing Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace, though most were detained the next morning at a camp in Brasilia.

Many spent the day being held in a gym, and videos shared on pro-Bolsonaro social media channels showed some complaining about their poor treatment in a crowded space.

Federal Police plans to press charges against at least 1,000 people and has begun transferring some to the nearby Papuda prison, according to the police press office.

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says that this is only the beginning.

Justice Minister Flávio Dino promised to prosecute for crimes such as organized crime, attempted coup and violent abolition of the democratic rule of law those who acted behind the scenes to convene supporters on social media and finance their transfer.

He also said that the authorities will investigate allegations that local security personnel allowed the destruction to continue unimpeded.

“We cannot and will not compromise in completing our legal duties,” Dino said. “It is essential so that these acts are not repeated.”

Lula signed a decree on Sunday ordering the federal government to take over security in the capital. It was approved on Monday by the lower house of Congress and will now go to the Senate.

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