Insiders enabled capital riots: Brazilian President Lula da Silva

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he's convinced that supporters of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro inside the presidential palace facilitated the entry of rioters into key state buildings in capital Brasilia on January 8.

"I am convinced that the door to the Planalto palace was opened so these people could get in because I didn't see the front door had been broken down. And that means that somebody facilitated their entry here," the BBC quoted the President as saying to reporters here on Thursday.

"Many people in the military police were complicit... There were many people in the armed forces here inside (the palace) who were complicit."

He went on to say that the presidential palace "was full of Bolsonaristas and military officials and we want to try to correct this so we can appoint career civil servants, preferably civilian ones".

"Nobody who is suspected of being a hardcore Bolsonarista can be allowed to remain in the palace. How can I have someone at the door of my office who might shoot me?"

Meanwhile, despite the mass arrest of approximately 1,500 people, authorities have now expressed concern that more rallies could be organised by the former President's hard-line allies, reports the BBC.

According to a memo from federal prosecutors seen by the BBC, pro-Bolsonaro groups have been calling for "mega" demonstrations to take place across Brazilian state capitals.

The government is also asking that social media platforms take steps to suspend accounts that have been involved in planning criminal behaviour.

Wearing shirts in the colours of Brazil's flag -- yellow and green -- the protesters vandalised the buildings in capital Brasilia that house the South American nation's key democratic institutions.

The police had to resort to firing tear gas when the demonstrators wrapped in the national flag surrounded the presidential palace.

--IANS

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