Brasília interventor blames military for January 8 riots

Brazil’s deputy justice minister, Ricardo Cappelli, said on Friday that the January 8 riots were the result of an “escalation” that began after the October elections. He blamed both the Army and former Brasília security secretary, Anderson Torres, for their roles in facilitating the attacks. 

Mr. Cappelli was appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to lead a federal intervention in the Brazilian capital’s security apparatus, ordered on the evening of the attacks. The intervention ends on January 31.

In a press conference on Friday, Mr. Cappelli said an initial report on the investigation would be made public, and a copy would be sent to the Supreme Court.

Mr. Cappelli noted that the protest camp outside the Army’s headquarters — set up shortly after the October election — was “central” to the unrest. All the vandalism, he said, was “organized, planned, and supported at that camp.”

“It became a center for designing plans against Brazilian democracy,” he said. His words echo those of his boss, Justice Minister Flávio Dino, who said in December that the campsites were “incubators for terrorists.”

Mr. Cappelli added that other criminal demonstrations were planned at the campsite, such as the December 12 attempted invasion of the Federal Police headquarters and the failed attempt to detonate a bomb at Brasília Airport...