MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brasilia bracing for fresh riots

Cappelli ordered a full-scale deployment of security forces

Brazilian authorities have stepped up security measures amid fears of new riots like those staged Sunday against the headquarters of the three branches of government, it was reported.

As tension escalates nationwide, the government announced it will block access to those buildings in Brasilia amid threats of a nationwide “mega-demonstration” by followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro seeking “to retake power.”

Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes ordered authorities at all levels to take “all necessary measures” to prevent any attempted occupation or blocking of public roads, and even make as many arrests as deemed necessary, as Bolsonaristas were launching a call on social media to not “giver up.” In this scenario, barriers, checkpoints, and blockades were set up across Brasilia amid heavy rains Wednesday on orders from Deputy Federal Justice Minister Ricardo Cappelli, who is in charge of local security forces as per a presidential decree.

“All public security troops are mobilized,” Cappelli said. ”There is no hypothesis of a repetition in the federal capital of the unacceptable events that occurred on Jan. 8″, he added.

De Moraes also banned the interruption of the free circulation of automobiles throughout the national territory, as well as access to public buildings, under penalty of a fine of 20,000 reais (US$ 3,850) for individuals and 100,000 reais (US$ 19,200) for legal entities. The magistrate's decision came in response to a request from the Attorney General's Office based on the calls from Bolsonarista groups on Telegram. The messaging application was also given two hours by the magistrate to block all channels, profiles, and group accounts with this type of content, G1 reported.

“Absolutely nothing justifies the existence of camps full of terrorists, sponsored by various financiers and with the complacency of civil and military authorities in total subversion to the necessary respect for the Constitution,” De Moraes wrote.

“And absolutely nothing justifies the omission and connivance of the local authorities with criminals who, previously, announced that they would commit violent acts against the constituted powers, as now announced in a new succession of publications in groups of the Telegram application, with the call to 'recover power'”, he added.

In the meantime, over 650 people remained under arrest Wednesday for Sunday's events perpetrated by groups who refused to admit that President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva had defeated Bolsonaro at the Oct. 30 runoff, setting up camps in front of Army barracks to call for a military uprising. Some 1,500 people were arrested on Sunday or the following days.

“Unfortunately, the president who left power on the 31st [of December] does not want to acknowledge defeat,” Lula stressed.