Federal police in Brazil are investigating after a pair of explosions rocked the heart of the country’s capital Brasilia, just steps away from the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
At least one person was reported dead. The court itself was evacuated, as plumes of smoke and fire were visible from the air.
“At the end of the [Supreme Court] session on Wednesday, two loud bangs were heard, and the ministers were safely removed from the building,” the court said in a press release.
In a separate statement, the federal police indicated it had deployed a rapid intervention group and a bomb control squad to the area, known as Brasilia’s Three Powers Plaza.
Those units, it explained, were in charge of “carrying out initial security actions and analysing the site”.
“A police inquiry will be opened to investigate the attack,” the federal police added.
Local media have reported that the explosions took place near the Supreme Court and along a street near an annexe building, where a car was parked. Some witnesses said they saw smoke pouring from the car’s boot before the second explosion in front of the court.
No motive has been released yet in Wednesday’s bombing incident, nor has a suspect been identified.
But Celina Leao – the vice-governor of the Federal District, where the capital is located – said that at least one of the explosions coincided with an unknown individual approaching the doors of the Supreme Court. She indicated he was the same man reported dead in the explosion.
“A citizen approached the Supreme Court, where he tried to enter inside the building but couldn’t proceed. And then the explosion happened at the door,” Leao told the media in a press conference.
In the aftermath of the incident, the head of the Supreme Court, Luis Roberto Barroso, held a telephone call with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the general director of the federal police and leaders in the Federal District’s government, according to the court’s press release.
Other government officials have voiced their concern and alarm to the press.
“I lament that someone has died,” the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, told CNN Brasil. “Obviously, we express all our emotions, our solidarity. We mourn, without knowing any of the circumstances.”
Police gather outside the Brazilian Supreme Court in the aftermath of two explosions on November 13 [Tom Molina/Reuters]
The Three Powers Plaza is the seat of Brazil’s federal government: It contains the presidential palace, buildings for both chambers of Congress and the Supreme Court.
The Chamber of Deputies, which had been in session during the explosions, announced it would suspend its activities until security could be restored.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Brazil-based journalist Monica Yanakiew noted that the explosions happened days before a major international conference for the Group of 20 (G20) economic forum in the city of Rio de Janeiro later this month.
“It’s happening just a while before Brazil is about to host the G20 summit with 55 delegations from 40 different countries and 15 international organizations,” Yanakiew said. “People are worried about that because of the timing.”
She also pointed out that the architecture of the Three Powers Plaza makes it particularly vulnerable.
“In Brasilia, the geography has it that the Supreme Court, National Congress and the presidential palace, they’re all glass buildings, which are one next to the other. Any explosion there can be very damaging,” Yanakiew explained.
The Three Powers Plaza has also been the target of political violence in recent years. On January 8, 2023, for instance, thousands of protesters descended on the square, ransacking the government buildings and clashing with law enforcement.
The riot was largely seen as an attack on democracy, as it came just days after the inauguration of President Lula. He described the incident as a “coup” and blamed his predecessor, the far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, for spreading false claims of election interference before his defeat.
The Supreme Court itself has been the target of backlash since it opened an investigation into Bolsonaro and his allies for their role in the 2023 riot.
Last year, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) – Brazil’s highest electoral authority – barred Bolsonaro from holding public office until 2030 for abuses of power while president.
Supporters of the far-right former president, however, have directed their ire at figures like Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who also was head of the Superior Electoral Court until June of this year.
De Moraes has spearheaded inquiries into the 2023 attack on the Three Powers Plaza and called for the suspension of the social media company X after it failed to comply with court orders. That suspension has since been lifted.
But at a protest billed as a free speech rally this past September, Bolsonaro accused de Moraes of political bias and overstepping his authority.
“I hope that the Federal Senate puts the brakes on Alexandre de Moraes, this dictator who does more harm to Brazil than Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva himself,” he told the crowd.
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