MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian prosecutors want former Justice Minister arrested over Sunday's riots

“I did not come to the United States to meet with Bolsonaro,” Torres argued on social media

Brazil's Attorney General's Office (AGU) Sunday requested the arrest of former federal Justice Minister Anderson Torres and of “all public agents responsible for the acts and omissions” during the demonstrations that caused havoc to the headquarters of the three branches of government.

In a note to Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes, the AGU expressed its intention to hold Torres accountable for Sunday's events. Torres had just taken over the Brazilian capital's Security Secretariat after serving as Minister of Justice during the last two years of former President Jair Bolsonaro's government.

Read also: Bolsonarist demonstrators storm gov't buildings in Brasilia

Brasilia Governor Ibaneis Rocha announced Torres' dismissal on his Twitter account. “I determined the dismissal of the Secretary of Security of the DF, at the same time that I placed all the troops of the security forces in the streets, with the determination to arrest and punish those responsible,” he said.

Torres is presently on vacation in Orlando, United States, where Bolsonaro traveled before Lula's inauguration. “I did not come to the United States to meet with Bolsonaro. I did not meet with him at any time. I am on vacation with my family. There was no plot for this to happen,” said Torres, quoted by Folha.

”The Secretary of Security (of the Federal District)... everyone knows the reputation of being conniving with the demonstrations,“ President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva said.

”Unfortunately, those who had to do the security of the Federal District were the military police of the federal district and they did not do it; there was incompetence, bad will, or bad faith, you saw the images of how they accompanied them“ to the demonstrators, Lula also pointed out while warning that those officers will be ”punished in an exemplary way“ because they ”are not trustworthy.”

Governor Rocha stems from Planning Minister Simone Tebet's centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB). Tebet was the third most-voted candidate in the first round behind Lula and Bolsonaro. For the runoff, she announced her support for Lula's Workers' Party (PT).

In his Twitter account, Rocha said that “I am in Brasília monitoring the demonstrations and taking all measures to contain the anti-democratic riots in the Esplanade of the Ministries.” He also announced that he requested the support of the federal government and placed himself at the disposal of Lula's executive.