Brazilian Police carry out more raids as part of Jan 8 riots probe

Brazil’s federal Police said on Tuesday they were carrying out new raids as part of a probe into the January 8 riots in Brasilia, in which supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed Government buildings.

They were serving three arrest warrants and eight search-and-seizure warrants in the states of Minas Gerais and Parana, a statement said.

The raids represent the seventh phase of an operation launched in mid-January to identify people who participated in, funded or fostered the riots, in which a mob invaded and ransacked the Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.

Police did not disclose the names of those targeted in Tuesday’s raids, but said they were being investigated for crimes of “violent abolition of the rule of law, coup d’état, qualified damage, criminal association, incitement, destruction and deterioration of specially-protected property”.

Meanwhile, the son of

President Bolsonaro on Tuesday added to debate over when, and whether, his father would return from self-imposed exile in Florida, tweeting that the former President would return next week, but deleting the tweet a few minutes later.

“I’m sorry for the previous post, I might be missing him a lot,” Senator Flavio Bolsonaro tweeted, adding