Images show GSI minister among invaders and lack of action on January 8

Images from the internal security circuit of the Planalto Palace captured on January 8 show that members of the Institutional Security Office (GSI) of the Presidency of the Republic did not contain the invasion of demonstrators that ended with the destruction of the headquarters of the Executive Branch, according to recordings revealed this Wednesday (19) by CNN Brasil.

More than 160 hours of recording from the system’s 22 cameras (see here) show that cabinet agents and Minister Marco Edson Gonçalves Dias himself would have been remiss in containing the demonstrators. And, at times, facilitated the action of the invaders through the corridors and at the exit of the Palace.

The images also show the low number of police to isolate the building during the arrival of the demonstrators by the Monumental Axis to Praça dos Três Poderes, moments before the invasion, around 14:55. In one of the stretches, men who formed a shield barrier on the road retreated, in addition to the vehicles that left the scene.

Inside the Planalto Palace, recordings show that soldiers left one of the GSI rooms on the ground floor at around 3:19 pm, and only returned at 4:31 pm, when the invasion began to be contained. Only one agent guarded the main entrance, who closed the door just minutes before the invaders reached the parking lot – he also left the post with the other soldiers.

Another GSI team dressed up for the confrontation even headed for the main door and the second floor of the Palace, but retreated soon after. Agents also collected fire extinguishers that were positioned along the corridors, but without a greater action to contain the invaders.

More concrete action was taken by two security guards who stopped intruders who were trying to use the Palace’s elevators to access other floors. However, the measure did not prevent the demonstrators from reaching the presidential office anteroom, where Gonçalves Dias appears walking around with them at various times without any type of reprisal.

Other GSI agents act in the same way, and one of them, who would be a captain in the Army, even offers water to the demonstrators and allows himself to be filmed by a woman who participated in the invasion. His identity has not been revealed, but, according to the recordings, he appears at least ten other times circulating among the invaders.

Around 4:29 pm, Gonçalves Dias appears walking around the anteroom of the presidential office, enters the room to check the situation, leaves and directs the demonstrators who were on the floor to leave the building. Other GSI agents also appear guiding the invaders, but without taking any action against them.

A People’s Gazette got in touch with the GSI to question the presence of Minister Gonçalves Dias and other agents among the protesters and the ministry’s actions to contain the invasion, but did not receive a response until the closing of this report. CNN Brasil also asked the folder for a response, also without return.