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Thousands of Brazilians have streamed into the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to protest against the storming of Brazil's capital on Sunday by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Key points:
- Supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the national capital in Brasilia
- Police have rounded up around 1,500 rioters, and there are plans to indict at least 1,000 people
- Mr Bolsonaro has denied that he helped encourage the uprising
"No amnesty! No amnesty! No amnesty!" was the rallying cry for the protesters, who demanded retribution against the Bolsonaro supporters who rioted and for those who enabled the rampage.
"These people need to be punished, the people who ordered it need to be punished, those who gave money for it need to be punished," Bety Amin, a 61-year-old therapist, said on Sao Paulo's main boulevard.
The word "DEMOCRACY" was stretched across the back of her shirt.
"They don't represent Brazil. We represent Brazil."
By Monday, Brazilian police had already rounded up roughly 1,500 rioters, with some caught in the act of trashing Brazil's Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace, while the majority were detained the following morning at an encampment in Brasilia.
Many were held in a gymnasium throughout the day, and video shared on pro-Bolsonaro social media channels showed some complaining about poor treatment in the crowded space.
The Federal Police's press office told The Associated Press the force plans to indict at least 1,000 people, and has begun transferring them to the nearby Papuda prison.
The administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says that is only the start.
Justice minister Flávio Dino vowed to prosecute those who acted behind the scenes to summon supporters on social media and finance their transport for crimes including organised crime, staging a coup, and violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.
He also said authorities would investigate allegations that local security personnel allowed the destruction to proceed unabated.
"We cannot and will not compromise in fulfilling our legal duties," Mr Dino said.
"This fulfilment is essential so such events do not repeat themselves."
Mr Lula signed a decree ordering the federal government to assume control of security in the capital on Sunday.
It was approved by Congress' Lower House on Monday night, and now proceeds to the Senate.
'It's terrorism'
The riot in Brasilia was a reminder of the threat to democracy posed by far-right elements that refuse to accept Bolsonaro's electoral defeat.
Since his October 30 loss, they have camped outside military barracks, pleading for intervention to allow Bolsonaro to remain in power and oust Mr Lula.
When no coup materialised, they rose up themselves.
Decked out in the green and yellow of the national flag, they broke windows, toppled furniture and hurled computers and printers to the ground.
They punched holes in a massive Emiliano Di Cavalcanti painting at the presidential palace and destroyed other works of art.
They overturned the U-shaped table where Supreme Court justices convene, ripped a door off one justice's office and vandalised a statue outside the court.
Hours passed before police expelled the mob.
"It's unacceptable what happened yesterday. It's terrorism," Marcelo Menezes, a 59-year-old police officer from north-eastern Pernambuco state, said at a protest in Sao Paulo.
"I'm here in defence of democracy, I'm here in defence of the people."
Bolsonaro 'stoked belief of electoral fraud'
Cries of "No amnesty!" were also heard during Mr Lula's January 1 inaugural address, in response to the president detailing the neglect of the outgoing Bolsonaro administration.
Mr Bolsonaro, who was admitted to hospital in Florida on Monday, has waxed nostalgic for the dictatorship era, praised a notorious torturer as a hero and said the regime should have gone further in executing communists.
His government also commemorated the anniversary of Brazil's 1964 coup.
Political analysts had repeatedly warned that Mr Bolsonaro was laying the groundwork for an insurrection in the mould of that which unfolded in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
For months, he stoked belief among hardcore supporters that the nation's electronic voting system was prone to fraud — though he never presented any evidence and independent experts disagreed.
Results from the election, the closest since Brazil's return to democracy, were quickly recognised by politicians across the spectrum, including some Bolsonaro allies, as well as dozens of other governments.
The outgoing president surprised nearly everyone by promptly fading from view, neither conceding defeat nor emphatically crying fraud.
He and his party submitted a request to nullify millions of votes, which was swiftly dismissed by the electoral authority.
None of that dissuaded his die-hard backers from their conviction that Mr Bolsonaro belonged in power.
In the immediate aftermath of the riot, Mr Lula said that the so-called "fascist fanatics" and their financial backers must be held responsible.
He also accused his predecessor of encouraging the uprising.
Mr Bolsonaro denied the president's accusation on Sunday.
Writing on Twitter, he said peaceful protest was part of democracy, but vandalism and invasion of public buildings cross the line.
Police investigated over capital storming
Authorities are also investigating the role of the federal district's police in either failing to halt protesters' advance or standing aside to let them run amok.
Prosecutors in the capital said local security forces were negligent at the very least. A supreme court justice temporarily suspended the regional governor, who oversees the force, for what he termed "wilful omission".
Another justice blamed authorities across Brazil for not swiftly cracking down on "homegrown neo-fascism".
The upheaval finally prompted municipal and state governments to disperse pro-Bolsonaro encampments outside military barracks that have lasted since the election. Their tents and tarps were taken down, and residents were sent packing.
But pro-democracy protesters on Monday sought to ensure that their message — "No amnesty!" — was heard by the authorities responsible for investigating and prosecuting, as well as far-right elements who might dare defy democracy again.
"After what happened yesterday, we need to go to the street," said Marcos Gama, a retiree who protested Monday night in Sao Paulo.
"We need to react."