“This individual approached the Federal Supreme Court, tried to enter, did not succeed and the explosion occurred in front of the door,” Brasilia Governor Celina Leao told the press.
According to preliminary information, it was a “suicide,” added the governor. “There are no injuries,” she said. The federal police announced that they had opened an investigation into “the attacks”, without further details. This man was found dead after two explosions near the high court.
“We can confirm that there is a body before the Federal Supreme Court,” a federal police spokesperson told AFP. The body was seen on the spot by an AFP photographer.
Earlier, in a statement, the court said that at the end of Wednesday’s session, “two loud explosions were heard and the judges were evacuated from the building for safety.” Staff on site were also evacuated “as a precautionary measure”.
The Supreme Court is located in Three Powers Square, the heart of Brazilian democracy, where it faces the presidential palace and Parliament.
The presidential palace is closed and no one can enter, noted an AFP photographer. The entire square is cordoned off by an imposing deployment of security forces.
Laiana Costa, an official at the Union Audit Court, another official body, told local media she saw “the man passing”: “Suddenly I heard a noise, I looked behind , there was fire and smoke.
Left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was not at the presidential palace at the time of the explosions, a presidential spokesperson told AFP.
On January 8, 2023, a week after Lula’s return to power, thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, former far-right head of state defeated in the presidential election at the end of 2022, stormed and ransacked the seats institutions on the Place des Trois-Pouvoirs. The authorities had finally regained control of the situation.
Lula will host a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday and Tuesday, bringing together most of the leaders of the world’s main economies. On Wednesday, he is due to receive Chinese President Xi Jinping on a state visit to Brasilia.
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