Man kills self with blasts outside Brazil's Supreme Court after failing to get inside
Sao Paulo (AP): A man who failed in an attempt to break into Brazil's Supreme Court killed himself in explosions outside the building Wednesday that forced justices and staff to evacuate, authorities said.
The two strong blasts were heard about 7.30 pm after the day's session finished and all the justices and staff left the building safely, Brazil's Supreme Court said in a statement.
Local firefighters confirmed one man died at the scene in the capital Brasilia, but did not identify him.
Celina Leao, the lieutenant governor of Brazil's federal district, said the suspect had earlier detonated explosives in a car in a Congress parking lot, which did not cause injuries.
“His first action was to explode the car. Then he approached the Supreme Court and tried to get in the building. He failed and then there were the other explosions,” Leao said in a news conference.
Local media reported that the car that exploded belonged to a member of Brazil's Liberal Party, the same of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Leao said only investigations will determine whether the owner of the car is the same man who died in the blasts.
Leao recommended that Congress be closed Thursday to avoid new risks. Brazil's Senate heeded her call and the lower house will be shut until noon, speaker Arthur Lira said.
“It could have been a lone wolf, like others we've seen around the world,” Leao said in a news conference. “We are considering it as a suicide because there was only one victim. But investigations will show if that was indeed the case.”
Leao added only forensics will be able to identify the body, which remained outside the Supreme Court for three hours after the blasts.
The blasts outside the Supreme Court took place about 20 seconds apart in Brasilia's Three Powers Plaza, where Brazil's main government buildings, including the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace, are located.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was not in the neighbouring presidential palace at the time, spokesman Jose Chrispiniano said.
Police blocked all access to the area and the presidential security bureau was conducting a sweep of the grounds around the presidential palace.
Brazil's federal police said it is investigating and did not provide a motive.
The Supreme Court in recent years has become a target for threats by far-right groups and supporters of Bolsonaro's due to its crackdown on the spread of false information. In particular, Justice Alexandre de Moraes has been a focus for their ire.
Lula's spokesman said that late on Wednesday the leftist leader was gathering at the presidential residence with federal police chief Andrei Rodrigues, and Supreme Court Justices de Moraes and Cristiano Zanin.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Delhi polls: AAP releases 1st list of 11 candidates, fields BJP, Cong turncoats
New Delhi, Nov 21: The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday announced its first list of 11 candidates for the Delhi Assembly polls, dropping three sitting MLAs and fielding six leaders who switched over from the BJP and the Congress recently.
Elections in the national capital are due in February to elect 70 members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly. AAP is the first party to release a list of candidates.
Making the announcement at a press conference here, Delhi AAP convener Gopal Rai reasoned that the early declaration of names of candidates was because eight of the 11 constituencies are not held by the party.
Six of these eight constituencies are currently held by the BJP.
He also rebutted suggestions that outsiders who recently joined AAP were given tickets at the cost of party leaders.
The names of candidates were announced after a meeting of the AAP's political affairs committee, headed by party national convener Arvind Kejriwal. AAP, which has been ruling Delhi since 2015, won 62 seats in the 2020 assembly polls.
Talking to reporters, Rai said the tickets were given strictly based on performance, surveys and public opinion as was promised by Kejriwal.
Sitting AAP MLAs who were denied tickets include Rituraj Jha from Kirari, Gulab Singh Yadav from Matiala and Abdul Rahman from Seelampur. Both Jha and Gulab Singh are two-term MLAs.
The party fielded Brahm Singh Tanwar from Chhatarpur, Anil Jha from Kirari and BB Tyagi from Laxmi Nagar. All three recently quit the BJP and joined AAP.
Former Congress leader Choudhary Zubair Ahmed has been fielded from Seelampur, while ex-MLAs Veer Singh Dhingan and Somesh Shokeen have been given tickets from Seemapuri and Matiala respectively. Ahmed, Dhingan and Shokeen joined the Aam Aadmi Party from the Congress.
AAP MLA from Chhatarpur Kartar Singh Tanwar quit the party and joined the BJP. He was disqualified as MLA by the Speaker.
Rajender Pal Gautam, AAP MLA from Seemapuri, resigned from the membership of the Delhi Assembly and the party to join the Congress.
Former AAP MLA Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar), Ram Singh Netaji (Badarpur), Gaurav Sharma (Ghonda), Manoj Tyagi (Karawal Nagar) and Deepak Singhal (Vishwas Nagar) are the other candidates whose names figure in the first list.
The party fielded Sarita Singh and Ram Singh Netaji again from Rohtas Nagar and Badarpur, respectively. They lost to their BJP rivals in the 2020 Assembly polls with narrow margins.
Rai said that the party has paced its election campaign with the release of these 11 names, adding that in the coming days, AAP will start a new campaign.
First list of AAP candidates for Delhi Elections is OUT‼️
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) November 21, 2024
All the best to all the candidates ✌️🏻
फिर लायेंगे केजरीवाल ! 🔥#PhirLayengeKejriwal pic.twitter.com/YTbnqpzqEC
