A person was found dead Wednesday evening near the Brazilian Supreme Court in Brasilia after two explosions of undetermined origin which rang out near the high court, police announced.
“We can confirm that there is a body before the Federal Supreme Court,” a federal police spokesperson told AFP. An investigation has been opened. 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 the Three Powers Square, the heart of Brazilian democracy, where it faces the presidential palace and the 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.
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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