Brazil orders arrest of top officials over riots

BBC reported that Brazil’s judicial authorities have ordered the arrest of top public officials after rioters stormed key government buildings in Brasília.

The officials  include former commander of the military police, Brasília’s former public security chief Anderson Torres and others “responsible for acts and omissions” leading to the riots, the attorney general’s office said.

Mr Torres denies any role in the riots.

Colonel Fábio Augusto, the police commander, was dismissed from his role after supporters of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court.

The rioting came a week after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, widely known as Lula, was sworn in.

The dramatic scenes saw thousands of protesters, some clad in yellow Brazil football shirts and waving flags, overrun police and ransack the heart of the Brazilian state.

Of the approximately 1,500 people arrested and brought to the police academy after the riot, officials say that nearly 600 have been taken to other facilities,where police officials have five days to formally charge them.