BREAKING: pro-#Bolsonaro rioters breach Congress, Supreme Court & Presidential Palace in 🇧🇷#Brazil.
Ex president promotes a stolen election lie & has been close to Trump.
He skipped inauguration of his predecessor & flew to Florida.
By: @peterbmillard
https://t.co/BMTRXeYqYG https://t.co/mA2NPG0vw5
2/ What does this remind you of?
🇧🇷#Brazil is yet more proof that the "stolen election" lie is poison for Democracy.
https://t.co/qED1x7qxtt
3/ Appalling footage is surfacing of pro-#Bolsonaro rioters dragging and beating the police protecting 🇧🇷#Brazil's capitol.
This is very, very bad.
And looks extremely orchestrated.
4/ Pro-#Bolsonaro rioters ransacking 🇧🇷#Brazil's Supreme Court in the capitol, Brasília.
https://t.co/fUIlYz7S4H
5/ Unlike the #January6th insurrection, President #Lula has already been inaugurated.
Here was #Bolsonaro's tear-streaked & self-pitying final address before he headed to Florida last week.
https://t.co/FAPpkOaG7q
6/Pro-#Bolsonaro rioters demanding "source code."
Incredibly familiar.
Notably, some of their banners are in English.
Interesting.
Who exactly has been advising #Brazil's ex-president?
https://t.co/5vSNETsfqY
7/ Extreme-right playbook, 2020s edition:
Lose the election?
❌Claim it was stolen.
❌Cast doubt on the electoral process
❌Attack the institutions of democracy.
Social media plays a huge role in making this possible.
8/ #Bolsonaro slinking away to Florida in weepy self-pity seemed odd.
Anyone know where he is this afternoon?
IF he's outside #Brazil, he has conveniently put distance between himself and & immediate legal consequences for whatever role he's just played in the #Brasilia siege.
9/ Remember, we know that Steve #Bannon & Jason Miller have been advising #Bolsonaro since he lost the election.
#Brazil
By @lizzadwoskin & @pessoagabi
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/23/brazil-bolsonaro-bannon/ https://t.co/A7lhGjByA6
10/ English-language hashtags promoting the #Bolsonaro rioters now laying siege to #Brazil's Capitol #Brasilia are trending.
Again.
Just as they did right after the election.
Some rioters are carrying English language signs.
Again. https://t.co/m5PjsQ5zPh
11/ The danger could not be more clear.
The global far right has a playbook & cast of strategists.
Many are 🇺🇸Americans.
They are the architects of our current political chaos.
And they will literally smash the institutions of democracy anywhere to get & hold power.
12/ Musk's takeover was a boon for right-wing Twitter in #Brazil.
#Bolsonaro called the acquisition a “breath of hope.”
This afternoon the platform is saturated with pro-insurrection content.
By @charlottepeet11
https://restofworld.org/2023/musk-twitter-right-wing-safe-space-brazil/ https://t.co/goiB0S95jO
13/ "It’s the start of a relationship which I’m sure will soon end in marriage" - #Bolsonaro on Musk.
It will be very interesting to see what comes next from the platform's CEO. https://t.co/Pfn7y1BGa5
14/ Note: deleted a tweet showing pro-#Bolsonaro rioters savagely attacking a police officer in #Brazil.
I'm lightly concerned Twitter's moderation approach will reflect Musk's political views on the matter & I want to make sure this thread stays live.
https://nypost.com/2022/11/01/elon-musk-personally-moderating-tweets-about-brazil-election/
15/ Trump was conspicuously silent while his supporters did the worst of the #jan6Insurrection.
#Bolsonaro is similarly silent today.
Parallels everywhere.
16/ Minister responsible for security in #Brasilia was staunch #Bolsonaro ally Anderson Torres.
Brazilian newspaper Estadão cites unnamed sources saying he recently travelled to Florida.
He was just dismissed with immediate effect👇
Source https://www.estadao.com.br/politica/coluna-do-estadao/secretario-de-seguranca-do-df-anderson-torres-esta-nos-eua/ https://t.co/44N5NqK0n4
17/ Pro-#Bolsonaro rioters appear to smash cameras from the ceiling during #Brasilia siege.
https://t.co/3VfKQTFFwI
18/ UPDATE: #Brazil's democratically-elected president #Lula orders security intervention to stop pro-#Bolsonaro siege of capitol #Brasilia. https://t.co/j50p0Ndnrq
19/ Democratically-elected President #Lula's address:
- Federal security intervention in #Brasilia
- Identified rioters will be punished
- Complicit Police & officials will be punished.
- Investigation will target financing for the siege https://t.co/zCiuMYpOcA
20/ NOW: Flashes & heavy crowd control gas clouds seen as authorities work to clear grounds #Brazil's National Congress building in #Brasilia. https://t.co/Xl2XH7vVWF
21/ NOW: multiple government buildings including National Congress, Palace & Supreme Court cleared of pro-#Bolsonaro rioters.
Intense crowd control on the esplanade in front of National Congress in #Brasilia.
Still a large group remain in vicinity.
Reports of. 30 arrests. https://t.co/QctGv6yU6U
22/ Arrest totals keep rising as night falls on the scene. 150 and counting per Globo.
Brazilian media commentators already talking about a failure of intelligence.
Large group of rioters currently remains West of the Palace of Justice. https://t.co/Ik86N9UVSm
23/ Police bus with smashed out windows carries off restrained rioters.
Wild scene.
#Brasilia https://t.co/70qpKEQncF
24/ WATCH First footage of aftermath.
Journalist stunned when he gets inside #Brazil's Supreme Tribunal.
Absolutely wrecked, inside and out.
Like anti-democratic hurricane. https://t.co/oIFJmIRPYd
25/ #Brasilia is a UNESCO Heritage site & crown jewel of modernism.
Pro-#Bolsonaro rioters busted everything they could get their hands on.
Computers, furniture, cabinets, televisions. They even soaked carpets & antique furniture by smashing open fire sprinklers. https://t.co/X6SltIIpoE
26/ Elements among pro-#Bolsonaro rioters spotted yanking network cables from servers.
Interesting.
Voices suggest they may be disabling security camera systems. https://t.co/cTjkZpMPIj
27/ Rioters sacked #Brazil's capitol for hours.
Condemnations from world leaders have poured in.
Meanwhile?
Complicit, cowardly silence from ex-president #Bolsonaro. https://t.co/u4SDJvaYRi
28/ "Bolsonarist radicalism can bring together thousands of coup supporters, but still it cannot take a country."
Analysis by André Petry tonight.
Original (pt-br): https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/nunca-foi-tao-facil-nunca-foi-tao-dificil/ https://t.co/Z13F5e4v7E
29/ They did resolve matters peacefully.
With a fair election.
The people you've gotten close to lost.
This is weak and fools nobody.
Since you arrived Twitter has been a launchpad for the lies that underpinned this attack on #Brazil's democracy. https://t.co/RXOetBMgzM
30/ Reminder: Musk's arrival at Twitter turbocharged #Brazil's far right.
Similar bumps did not happen on Instagram & Youtube during the same timeframe.
Report by @charlottepeet11 https://restofworld.org/2023/musk-twitter-right-wing-safe-space-brazil/ https://t.co/XIjbSrckRt
31/ If he wants peace for Brazilians, Musk should encourage everyone to accept the results of democratic elections.
At this point, anything less is playing footsie with authoritarianism.
32/ #Brazil's AG Office requests pro-#Bolsonaro official in charge of security for the Federal District be arrested
Anderson Torres (@andersongtorres), perhaps not coincidentally, is currently in the United States. Like Bolsonaro.
https://oglobo.globo.com/politica/noticia/2023/01/agu-pede-ao-supremo-prisao-de-secretario-de-seguranca-do-df-anderson-torres.ghtml https://t.co/ExVomsxduR
33/ Claimed to be the original of Brazil's 1988 constitution.¹
Which ended 21 years of dictatorship.
Makes me sick to my stomach.
¹OSINT: Maybe? Same cover. Original kept in museum section of the Supreme Federal Tribunal. Which was attacked today.
https://t.co/xtqXy6w0ov
34/ "I have always been within the four lines of the Constitution" - Bolsonaro
The ex-president waited till the attack failed & his supporters been arrested & kicked out by riot squads before delivering this weak & evasive statement.
So familiar. https://t.co/qu2wTbvgxS
35/ Hashtag associated with #Bolsonaro supporters: "BrazilianSpring."
Very active today.
First, it's in English.
Second? Hard to imagine a Brazilian came up with the term...
Because it's the *middle of Brazil's scorching summer.*
Weird. https://t.co/VocYhgIJWF
36/ Democratically-elected president @LulaOficial arrives.
"...The coup plotters who promoted the destruction of public property in Brasilia are being identified and will be punished. Tomorrow we resume work... Democracy always. Goodnight"
https://twitter.com/LulaOficial/status/1612280715231612928
37/ Bannon spent today compulsively posting the mantra that #Brazil's election was stolen.
It wasn't. And he knows it.
He also called the rioters freedom fighters.
They aren't.
And he knows that, too. https://t.co/nx6CZy53H6
38/ January 3rd, Florida:
Supporters of ex-president #Bolsonaro who met him at beach club mansion say he told them that the "best is yet to come."
https://twitter.com/o_antagonista/status/1610387055724437506
39/ "I was surrounded, kicked, pushed, cursed. They broke my glasses, pulled my hair, tried to take my cell phone."
Just like on #Jan6 journalists were assaulted in #Brasilia.
h/t @tomphillipsin
https://twitter.com/falamarina/status/1612282583462600704
40/#Brazil's Supreme Court orders immediate removal of #Brasilia's governor for 90 days.
Says attacks could have only happened w/official complicity.
Hours ago Gov @IbaneisOficial began a video with an apology to president #Lula.
Which was interesting.
https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2023/01/09/moraes-decide-afastar-o-governador-ibaneis-rocha-do-distrito-federal.ghtml https://t.co/mAOonCYjvn
41/ Musk fired Twitter's entire #Brazil staff, except for some salespeople.
Including everyone who worked on moderation of violence & misinformation.
By @lizzadwoskin
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/08/brazil-bolsanaro-twitter-facebook/ https://t.co/5nzWF2kpG0
42/ Pro-#Bolsonaro accounts used the code phrase (“Festa da Selma”) to organize & hype the assault on #Brazil's capitol today.
Some even shared maps.
Here are some examples from just one user. https://t.co/SnuLI3BGxI
43/ The “Festa da Selma” code phrase saw a huge spike in the run-up to the attack in #Brasilia.
Over 10k accounts.
Pic: @arcelinobsilva (who posts in Portuguese) has been tracking the term.
https://twitter.com/arcelinobsilva/status/1612269943885529089 https://t.co/Y9dqFap3FP
44/Wild. It took me thirty seconds find scores of Twitter accounts telling everyone exactly where to go to attack #Brasilia.
This was in plain sight. https://t.co/eWC1zVdfYE
46/ Another good follow, @msoares found accounts responding to coded tweets about the imminent #Brasilia siege tweeting questions like which "side" the military will be on during the attack.
Right. Out. In. The. Open.
https://twitter.com/msoares/status/1612255359573311489
47/ The sheer obviousness of tweets in the run-up is staggering.
Everything was spelled out in the thinnest of codes.
I think #Twitter was either willfully blind or utterly negligent as #Brazil careened towards an organized siege against the three branches of government. https://t.co/bthGHRV0F8
48/ There appears to be a growing effort among #Bolsonaro supporters to construct a narrative that the ransacking was *actually* done by #Lula supporters / infiltrators.
Just like with the US insurrection on #Jan6.
Same. Playbook.
49/ Just learned that @agenciapublica reported in November that Steve Bannon coined the term "BrazilianSpring."
Which went on to become a major trending topic on Brazilian Twitter.
h/t @barbaradosualdo
By @lauradscofield(in Portuguese): https://apublica.org/sentinela/2022/11/a-invencao-da-primavera-brasileira-por-steve-bannon/ https://t.co/p4QFQWk1OA
50/ To cap off a wild 24h, #Brazil's ex-president #Bolsonaro just checked himself into a Florida hospital.
This would be a telenovela if it weren't so consequential.
https://scc10.com.br/saude/bolsonaro-e-internado-as-pressas-em-hospital-na-florida/ https://t.co/Uykoi6vlxJ
51/I've pointed to possible links to US-based folks like Bannon & #Jan6 parallels.
And Twitter's failures.
Investigations needed.
That said, Brazil has its own history w/dictators & coups.
Now it's stock-taking time & I recommend seeking out *Brazilian* experts & voices.