Brazil’s federal police on Thursday began serving dozens of search warrants against supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro for blocking highways after his election defeat, authorities said.
The operation was ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also chairs the nation’s electoral authority. He is responsible for two investigations of Bolsonaro supporters regarding alleged anti-democratic acts and the spread of fake news on social media regarding the election.
The Supreme Court said in a statement that the investigation into the 81 search warrants is proceeding under seal, and police said the warrants have been served in seven states and the Federal District. Separately, federal police officers carried out 23 searches and at least four pre-trial detentions in the state of Espirito Santo in connection with false election reports, police said.
Many analysts have expressed concern that Bolsonaro has laid the groundwork for an insurrection modeled after the US Capitol riot.
BRAZIL’S BOLSONARO SAYS SUPREME COURT ELECTIONS ‘ARE OVER’
For more than three weeks after the Oct. 30 election, some of his supporters who refused to accept his narrow defeat to his leftist nemesis, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, blocked some 1,000 roads across the nation until when the federal traffic police began work to clean up passage.
Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro set fire to vehicles and allegedly attempted to storm the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil on December 12, 2022.
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
The federal traffic police said protesters blocking highways in Santa Catarina state, for example, used “terrorist” methods including homemade bombs, fireworks, nails, stones and barricades made from burnt tires.
There have only been isolated incidents since police cleared the streets there, though they noted in a Nov. 21 statement that most of the acts of resistance are now taking place at night, carried out by “extremely violent and coordinated hooded men “, which act simultaneously in different regions of the state.
ELECTIONS IN BRAZIL: BOLSONARO ADDRESSES THE NATION, ASSURES LOYALTY TO THE CONSTITUTION, CALLS FOR AN END TO ROAD BLOCKAGES
Bolsonaro has rarely addressed the nation since his electoral defeat. After staying out of the public eye for more than a month, he gave his first speech to supporters outside the presidential residence on December 9, saying he is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and that every citizen should work to build a future best for the country.
His supporters remain camped out outside military buildings in several state capitals, calling for the military to intervene. Most of the demonstrations are peaceful, but the tactics put in place by the most avid participants towards the authorities have begun.
Bolsonaro supporters clashed with police on December 12 in the capital Brasilia after they set fire to several vehicles and buses and allegedly attempted to invade a federal police building. No one was identified or arrested by police at the time, according to authorities.
Vice President Hamilton Mourão has emerged as the president’s spokesman, saying in interviews with the local press and in a recently published column that protesters should be strong, while also condemning violent acts.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“The clamor of protests that we have seen since the announcement of the election result … is legitimate, as much as some have tried to classify it as ‘undemocratic’,” Mourão wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
