Brazilian Protestors Demand 'No Amnesty', Jail Time for Bolsonaro Supporters Caught Rioting In Capital

Thousands of Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have come out to the streets on Monday to demand the imprisonment of the Bolsonaro supporters who stormed the country’s capital and ransacked three important capital buildings.

Many of the Brazilians protesting on the street were reportedly chanting “No amnesty!” and holding up signs demanding the same in an apparent demand for the government to throw the book on the rioters and punish them for those responsible for Sunday’s rampage, according to the Associated Press.

“These people need to be punished, the people who ordered it need to be punished, those who gave money for it need to be punished,” 61-year-old protestor Bety Amin said. “They don’t represent Brazil. We represent Brazil.”

The “No Amnesty” chants appear to be a reference to an amnesty law made in relation to the country’s last decades-long dictatorship that allowed many military officials to escape persecution for their crimes. As political science professor Luis Felipe Miguel said, a lack of punishment could create “instability” in the country for years, 104.5 WOKV reported.

“That is the lesson we should have learned from the end of the military dictatorship, when Brazil opted not to punish the regime’s killers and torturers,” he wrote in a column he entitled “No Amnesty” that was published on Monday.

Over 1,500 of the rioters have been arrested since the incident, many of whom were arrested the next day at an encampment near a military base in Brasilia. Many of them were held at gymnasiums that pro-Bolsonaro influencers said were too crowded, and over 527 have been transferred to a detention center or prison.

Brazil’s Justice Minister Flávio Dino has said that these will not be the end of their actions against the rioters as they look into the people who may have given financial or material support to the capital storming and that authorities are currently looking into the alleged inaction of the local security personnel during the incident.

“It’s unacceptable what happened yesterday. It’s terrorism,” police officer Marcelo Menezes said. “I’m here in defense of democracy, I’m here in defense of the people.”