Attack on Brazil's Supreme Court linked to previous riots

A failed bomb attack on Brazil's Supreme Court is being probed as a "terrorist act" with possible links to an insurrection last year against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the country's police chief has said.

The general director of Brazil's Federal Police said that evidence found in the house of a suspected suicide bomber points to a direct connection between yesterday's attack in Brasilia and an 8 January 2023 riot against institutions.

Andrei Rodrigues told a press conference that investigations will tell whether the bomber acted alone or if he had any kind of support from third parties, adding that the suspect's phone was retrieved and will be of "extreme relevance."

Mr Rodrigues warned that "this is not an isolated act" and "the extremists are active."

The blasts, set off by a man believed to be the sole perpetrator, could have been a "violent" attempt to overthrow "democratic rule of law," Mr Rodrigues said.

The man was the only casualty and his body has now been removed from the scene.

Overnight a bomb squad worked to remove a suspected detonator.

The attempted attack came as the country prepares to host leaders including US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next Monday and Tuesday.

Brazilian authorities already have in place a high security level for the summit, and next Wednesday, President Xi is due to make a state visit to Brasilia, a day after the G20 summit in Rio wraps up.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said that the suicide bomber who tried to get into the top court had intended to blow up the building, casting it as part of a growing wave of attacks on democracy.

Mr de Moraes is leading the investigation into January's apparent coup attempt, which resembled the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump on 6 January, 2021.

Police identified the man died in a blast outside the Supreme Court as a former city council candidate from ex-President Jair Bolsonaro's right-wing party with a history of heated political rhetoric online.

The square in front of the Supreme Court building is known as Praca dos Tres Poderes (Place of the Three Powers), also the location of Brazil's congress and presidential palace.

A police report seen by Reuters, confirmed as authentic by people familiar with the matter, said Francisco Wanderley Luiz, 59, threw an object at the court building that caused no damage, then laid on the ground and exploded a homemade bomb that killed him.

Brazil's electoral records show Mr Luiz lost a 2020 race for city council in Rio do Sul, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, as a member of Bolsonaro's right-wing Liberal Party.

Mr de Moraes, who is among Supreme Court justices targeted with threats for overseeing investigations into Mr Bolsonaro and his supporters, said Mr Luiz may have acted alone but the attack was the result of rhetoric dating back to the Bolsonaro government.

He called the explosions the worst attack on the Supreme Court since supporters of Mr Bolsonaro ransacked the building in a riot last year.

Mr Bolsonaro distanced himself from last night's violence, saying on social media that it was an isolated incident caused by a person with mental health issues.

Police found more explosives at a house that Mr Luiz rented in Brasilia, which were detonated with a bomb disposal robot.

His mobile phone was later found in a parked trailer.

It was the scene of chaos on 8 January last year when Bolsonaro supporters vandalized government buildings to protest his electoral defeat to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In the weeks before those riots in the capital, police foiled a bomb plot near the Brasilia airport inspired by Bolsonaro's baseless allegations of a stolen election.

Before and after losing the 2022 race, Mr Bolsonaro sowed doubts about the legitimacy of an electoral system run by the courts and attacked Supreme Court decisions as illegitimate.

Brazil's top electoral court barred Mr Bolsonaro from public office through 2030 due to that rhetoric, and federal police are investigating his role in an alleged coup plot after the vote.

He has denied any wrongdoing, and his party insists he will be its presidential candidate in 2026.

The blasts in the heart of the capital could bring fresh attention to that police probe into Mr Bolsonaro, which was expected to wrap up this month.

The first explosion went off in a parking lot some 300m from the Supreme Court building and blew open the trunk of a car owned by Mr Luiz.

Other blasts seconds apart went off in front of the court in the square where police found his body.

The Supreme Court justices had just ended a plenary session when the blasts were heard and they evacuated safely, the court said in a statement.

President Lula had left the executive palace, across the square from the court, less than an hour before the explosions.

Next week, the Brazilian president will host the G20 summit in Rio, which is under extraordinary security.