Barroso says 8/1 protesters mixed religion with hate

For the president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, the acts that occurred on January 8 are a mixture of “religion, hatred and lack of civility”. The statement was made in an interview with the channel CNN Brazil and occurs days before an act scheduled by the government, by the Federal Supreme Court by the National Congress to remember the protests at the headquarters of the Three Powers.

“One of the things that impressed me most in the report from the security guards, from the Judicial Police, is that people mixed hatred with religiosity. They broke everything with violence and then prayed. This was something new, a pathology, in Brazil: the mixture of religion with hatred and aggressiveness, which is obviously a contradiction in terms”, he said.

But the minister’s speech is generic and does not provide any evidence that the protesters who prayed were the same ones who committed acts of vandalism, although this hypothesis cannot be ruled out in specific cases.

“Spirituality, which is not the same as religion, is a peaceful thing, it is something of good, harmonious. And you were seeing people there who were completely at odds, spiritually. God was not present there, he was not helping,” said Barroso in channel interview CNN Brazil.

Barroso said that hatred was spread from January 8th and that he claimed that the demons were released that day.

“Hate has spread, combined with incivility. I think the greatest legacy of recent times is this mixture: hatred, with religiosity and lack of civility. Everyone feels entitled to disrespect someone they don’t like. This happened to Minister Alexandre (de Moraes), it happened to me. It’s as if the demons had been released. And therefore, the aggressive, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-environmentalist people came out into the light of day empowered. It’s going to be a complex process to do with that people recover civility”, stated the minister.

The president of the Court also blamed the Military Police of the Federal District (PMDF) and the Armed Forces for the invasion that took place in the buildings.

“There was an immense failure in the intelligence service, both by the police and the military. Or if it wasn’t a failure in the intelligence service, it was complicity. Which would be even worse. So there was a failure in the intelligence service and there was a failure in the security forces. The police were not on the street, nor did they arrive within a reasonable time. Not even the presidential battalion. There was a mixture of omission, incompetence and complicity,” he said.

The judge also alleged that there was a process of politicization of the Armed Forces, but that it had already been undone.

“I think there was an undue process of politicization, already undone, by the way, but there was a very difficult moment. As president of the TSE, I gave prestige to the Armed Forces, because it is a prestigious institution in Brazilian society. I invited them to participate in the Transparency Commission to provide transparency and to help with security, but, under the guidance of the commander, the chief, they actually raised suspicions and created suspects. Very disappointing behavior. I felt really bad, but the truth is that afterwards they had to make a report and say: ‘we didn’t find anything’”, he concluded.