Last Updated on January 9, 2023

Demonstrators who camped overnight at the military headquarters (HQ) in Brasilia, Brazil on Monday night were seemingly under the protection of the military before they were transported to an internment building under state police custody Monday morning.

There have been over 1,200 arrests reported since the beginning of the demonstration on Sunday and the citizens arrested face a prison sentence of up to 30 years if they are convicted of terrorism and “crimes against democracy.”

The large group of those interned at the building got the word out because many of them still had access to their cell phones.

Demonstrators who camped out at the military HQ overnight on Monday were forced onto buses by military police Monday morning.,

“The back part of where you are, there are some buses and all of you must go. As you can see we are surrounded. Don’t fight. It is not in the interests of the Brazilian army and military police. We have an hour, which is a very reasonable time to enter the bus and go in peace,” the military officer said to the protesters.

The previous night, it was reported that the military was preventing the state police from arresting the protesters, and the two factions were engaged in an apparent standoff, which included diplomatic negotiations, according to sources on the ground in contact with National File.

An aerial view of the standoff between federal police and military police at the military headquarters in Brasilia was captured via photo and video by news outlets and sources on the ground.

The protesters arrested are described as “terrorists” by mainstream media, and are in the process of being transferred to Papuda Penitentiary Complex and the Female Penitentiary of the Federal District (PFDF).

Papuda is the same prison where the chief of the Xavante tribe is incarcerated after he was arrested for protesting and “anti-democratic acts” in December.

According to the Secretary of Penitentiary Administration of the Federal District, 176 people were transferred as of Monday morning, a group which includes 112 men and 64 women. Initially, the men were taken to the Provisional Detention Center II (CDP II) while the women were taken to the PFDF.

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