Brazil envoy decries ‘grotesque and failed assault’ on democracy

Army and riot police clear Bolsonaro supporters from Brasília as US, Mexico and Canada say they ‘stand by’ democratic institutions

The far-right storming of Brazil’s supreme court, congress and presidential palace was a “grotesque and failed assault” on its institutions, said the country’s ambassador to the UK, as troops moved in to break up protest camps set up by supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro.

A day after the would-be insurrectionists attacked all three branches of government in a brazen effort to topple the democratically elected government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Fred Arruda, Brazil’s ambassador in London told the Guardian: “What happened in Brasília yesterday was a grotesque and failed assault on our institutions. As President Lula put it, democracy requires people to respect the institutions.”