Damage follows reports that the far-right politician has left the Niemeyer-designed Alvorada Palace in a state of disrepair
Thousands of protestors supporting far-right former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro have stormed three Oscar Niemeyer designed buildings in the country’s capital, Brasília, smashing windows and using furniture as barricades.
The protestors claimed last year’s election was stolen, and were calling for the removal of newly elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in what has been reported as an attempted coup.
The National Congress, the Planalto Palace and the Supreme Court, all designed by Niemeyer in the 1950s and 60s and considered modernist masterpieces, were targeted. Hundreds have been arrested following the the protests, which saw glass cabinets in the National Congress smashed and fire extinguishers let off.
Bolsonaro has condemned the invasions of the buildings, describing them as “depredations”. US president Joe Biden said he condemened the “assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil”.
It comes a week after reports another Niemeyer building in the city, the Alvorada Palace, was left in a state of disrepair by Bolsonaro after he left office last month.
First lady Rosângela Lula da Silva, wife of Lula da Silva, reportedly said she was “shaken” after seeing the state in which Bolsonaro had left the 1958 palace, which is the official presidential residence.
Bolsonaro, who is currently in the US, became the first Brazilian president not to secure a second term when he lost the 2022 presidential election.
During his four years in power he became an internationally controversial figure after facilitating the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and removing protections for indigenous tribes.
He also consistently downplayed the impact of the covid pandemic despite rocketing numbers of infections that made the country the world’s worst affected by the disease in 2021.
Bolsonaro officially left office on 31 December, although the day before he flew to Florida in the US to avoid taking part in Lula’s swearing-in ceremony and has been photographed in the city of Orlando eating at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant.
Brazilian broadcaster GloboNews was taken on a tour of the Alvorada Palace by Rosângela Lula da Silva, with the report showing ripped carpets and sofas, leaking ceilings, smashed windows and detached floorboards.
Several works of art have reportedly disappeared from the building, while others have been damaged by exposure to the sun.
“The overall state of the building, which is Brasília’s most iconic … is not good … and will require many repairs,” said GloboNews reporter Natuza Nery.
The first lady said she aims to begin a renovation of the palace this month so she and her husband, who had lived there during his previous presidency from 2003 to 2011, can move in.
The modernist Alvorada Palace is listed as a National Historic Heritage Site and was the first government structure built in Brasília, a planned capital which was built in a remote part of central Brazil in the 1950s and 60s with the intention of unifying disparate parts of the country.
The city, which was built in the shape of an aeroplane, was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 due to its modernist architecture and unique urban planning.
Niemeyer designed most of the city’s major civic buildings, including the Cathedral of Brasília, the National Museum and the National Library.
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