Brazil army chief sacked after uprising in capital

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has sacked Brazil’s army chief over fears that democracy in the country was threatened after a Jan. 8 uprising by far-right protesters in the capital .

General Julio Cesar de Arruda has been removed as commander-in-chief of the army, according to the official website of the Brazilian Armed Forces.

He was replaced by General Tomas Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, commander of the Southeastern Military Command.

Mr Lula has targeted the military in recent weeks after supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings and destroyed public property.

Rioters stormed Brazil’s Congress, the presidential palace and Brasilia’s Supreme Court in an attempt to get the military to intervene and reverse Bolsonaro’s presidential election loss to Lula.

More than 1,000 people were arrested on the day of the riot, which bears strong resemblance to the January 6, 2021, riots in the U.S. Congress where mobs wanted to overthrow former President Donald Trump.

Earlier this month, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge authorized the inclusion of Mr Bolsonaro in an investigation into who instigated the unrest in Brasilia as part of a wider crackdown to hold responsible parties accountable.

According to the text of his ruling, Justice Alexandre de Morais granted the request of the attorney general’s office, which cited a video Mr Bolsonaro posted on Facebook two days after the unrest.

The video claims that Mr Lula was not voted for, but was chosen by the Supreme Court and Brazil’s electoral body.