Brazilian ex-parliamentarian, supporter of outgoing far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, opened fire and flew grenades to prevent his arrest, injuring two federal police officers, authorities said Sunday.
The ex Member of Parliament Humberto Jefferson was facing a prison sentence ordered by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) for violating the terms of his house arrest by uploading a video to social networking sites in which he insulted the president of Brazil’s top judiciary.
When they went to arrest him in the city of Levy Gasparian (Rio de Janeiro state, southeast), Mr. Jefferson “retaliated” and two members of the law enforcement services were “injured by the fragments of a grenade he threw,” the Federal Police (PF) said. in her announcement.
They were given medical care and are fine, said the PF, which deployed reinforcements on the ground, as reported by international agencies and relayed by the Athens News Agency.
President Bolsonaro distanced himself from the former MP, stressing via Twitter that “anyone who opens fire on a police officer must be treated as a criminal element. I express my solidarity with the police officers who were injured in this incident.”
Earlier, the far-right head of state had condemned the “armed resistance” by Mr Jefferson, who remained holed up in his home for eight hours and confirmed via video that he had used weapons, but assured that he had no intention of injuring police officers. claiming that his purpose was to cause damage to their cars.
Mr. Bolsonaro, however, simultaneously criticized the judicial investigations against the former MP because, in his opinion, they are being carried out “without any constitutional basis”. He ordered his government’s Minister of Justice to rush to the spot.
STF member Alessandre G. Morais—and the president’s black sheep—ordered Mr. Jefferson to be sent to prison for violating many of the terms of his house arrest.
Hobert Jefferson called Supreme Court Chief Justice Carmen Lucia a “witch” and a “whore.” The reason for his tweets were decisions made by the head of the STF regarding the electoral process.
The episode unfolded a week before the second round of presidential elections was held in Brazilthis coming Sunday, October 30, in which Jáich Bolsonaro will face Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, the center-left former president (2003-2010) and poll favorite.
The attacks against “Carmen Lucia cannot be tolerated by anyone who respects democracy. They create (…) violence in society. (They create) a machine for the destruction of democratic values. They give rise to behaviors like the one we see today,” Lula commented via Twitter, in turn expressing solidarity with the injured policemen.
Source: News Beast
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