Feds target sponsors of January 8 riots in new round of warrants

Broken glass and signs of vandalism in the Brazilian Senate after the January 8 riots. Photo: Jefferson Rudy/SF

Federal Police on Tuesday executed 53 search and seizure warrants in seven Brazilian states as part of an investigation to identify the sponsors of the January 8 riots — when several thousand pro-Bolsonaro radicals stormed and ransacked the buildings of the three branches of government in the capital.

The development comes two days before Brazil holds its Independence Day celebrations on September 7. The date was used by former President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters in the previous two years as a platform for putschist discourse.

This part of the investigation is under judicial secrecy. The Supreme Court’s press office did not disclose the court’s authorization for the operation and, as usual, the Federal Police did not reveal the names of the targets.

In a statement, the Federal Police added that the assets of those under investigation have been frozen by court order. Feds estimate that the riots caused BRL 40 million (USD 8 million) in damage to public property.

Of today’s 53 warrants, 26 were carried out in the state of Minas Gerais, and 12 in the state of São Paulo.

This was the 16th stage of the ongoing Federal Police operation in the wake of the January 8 riots. So far, 277 search and seizure warrants were carried out and 78 people were ordered arrested.

Back in January, at the request of the Solicitor General’s Office, a federal court froze BRL 6.5 million (USD 1.3 million) in assets belonging to people and companies that subsidized buses transporting pro-Bolsonaro demonstrators to Brasília.