One of those arrested for their participation in the assault on the Planalto palace in Brasilia – seat of parliament and the supreme court – said members of the Brazilian army tried to help them escape from the building before they were arrested. The testimony of the man, who arrived in the Brazilian capital from Santa Catarina with 48 other people to “protest against corruption in the country and the lack of transparency in electoral processes”, was provided in the context of the many interrogations to which the hundreds of people arrested for attacks on institutional buildings.
Assault on the congress in Brazil, Bolsonaro supporters return home: “Betrayed by the army”
An army commander, he said, urged them to “use an emergency exit” shortly before military police troops arrived in the area to make the arrests. This same commander intervened between the riot police and the demonstrators so that “the building would not suffer further damage and no one would be injured”.
He also explained that both he and other assailants knelt before the police arrived and asked the army for protection before singing the national anthem. The armed forces, for their part, have stated that for the moment there are no indications that support this version or confirm its veracity.