ANGLICAN bishops in Brazil have described the storming of the country’s National Congress by supporters of the former President Jair Bolsonaro as an “act of terrorism” which they “violently repudiate”.

The House of Bishops issued a statement after the events on Sunday night in the capital, Brasilia. The Bishops condemned the riot and called for all those involved to be held accountable.

Tens of thousands of people also took to the streets of Brazilian cities on Monday to hold pro-democracy rallies.

The riot on Sunday, in which thousands of Bolsonaro supporters overran police and ransacked parliament buildings, occurred a week after the new President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, elected last October (News, 4 November), was sworn in. It took place almost two years to the day after the storming of the United States Congress by supporters of the former US President Donald Trump (News, 8 January 2021).

The new President of Brazil, known as Lula, visited the damaged buildings on Monday, and condemned the “terrorist acts” committed there.

Mr Bolsanaro, who has still not admitted defeat in the election, flew to the US before the handover on 1 February. In hospital in Florida with reported abdominal pains, he condemned the attack in a post on Twitter.

The statement from the House of Bishops of the Anglican Episcopal Church in Brazil, headed by Archbishop Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto, said that the Church “could not remain indifferent to the anti-democratic acts that took place in Brasilia on 8 January. We come forward to express our vehement repudiation of the acts of terrorism and vandalism that constituted serious attacks on Brazilian democracy.

“As Christian people and aware of our social and political responsibility, we affirm that democracy is a right that needs to be respected and protected; and the extremist and deplorable actions of the invasion of the headquarters of the Three Powers of the Republic, with the depredation of public property, are not just manifestations of non-compliance with the legitimate result of the elections and with the inauguration of the new President of the Republic, but, rather, seek to destroy the bases on which our nation is established and are, therefore, attacks against the entire Brazilian people.

“Faced with this, we confirm the need for investigation, identification, and accountability of all people involved, both in financing and in the execution of such violence. We assure our support to the Institutions responsible for guaranteeing the Democratic Rule of Law.”

The Bishops also called for “permanent prayer for peace . . . so that love overcomes hatred, dialogue replaces violence, and intolerance gives way to respect”.

Pope Francis, referring to the Congress storming in his annual address to ambassadors, said that such political crises were a sign of weakening democracy and worsened conditions for ordinary people.

“In many areas, a sign of the weakening of democracy is heightened political and social polarisation, which does not help to resolve the urgent problems of citizens,” the Pope said.

He spoke of “various countries of the Americas where political crises are laden with tensions and forms of violence that exacerbate social conflicts”, and said that he was thinking particularly of the events in Brazil.

The RC National Conference of Bishops of Brazil also condemned the rioters, and demanded that the rioters be held accountable.

On Twitter, the bishops wrote that they were “perplexed by the serious and violent events in Brasilia”, and called for “serenity, peace and the immediate cessation of criminal attacks on the democratic rule of law”.

About 1500 people have been arrested in connection with the riot.