Seoul Gazette - World leaders condemn anti-government riots in Brazil

Here are key reactions from global leaders:

- United States -

President Joe Biden assailed Sunday's attacks by supporters of right-wing Jair Bolsonaro, who lost last year's election, as "outrageous."

"I condemn the assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil. Brazil's democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined," Biden said.

Democrats on the US Senate foreign relations committee noted that the violence came nearly two years to the day after supporters of then-president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

"Trump's legacy continues to poison our hemisphere," they said.

- China -

China said it "firmly opposes the violent attack" on the government buildings in Brasilia.

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin added Beijing "supports the measures taken by the Brazilian government to calm the situation, restore social order and safeguard national stability."

- Russia -

The Kremlin said it backed Brazil's newly inaugurated leftwing president.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the actions of the instigators of the riots and we fully support Brazil's President Lula da Silva," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

- Latin America -

Leaders across Latin America spoke out, with Argentine President Alberto Fernandez assailing a "coup attempt" by Bolsonaro supporters.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tweeted: "Lula is not alone, he has the support of the progressive forces of his country, of Mexico, of the Americas and of the world."

Chilean President Gabriel Boric decried "this cowardly and vile attack on democracy" and said the Lula government has Chile's "complete backing."

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, a leftist authoritarian, condemned what he called "neofascist groups" seeking to unseat Lula.

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel offered solidarity and condemned protesters for "generating chaos and disrespecting the popular will."

- Europe -

The European Union's top foreign affairs official, Josep Borrell, tweeted that he was "appalled by the acts of violence and illegal occupation of Brasilia's government quarter by violent extremists."

"Brazilian democracy will prevail over violence and extremism," he added.

The attack "cannot leave us indifferent," said Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Such an attack on government offices is "unacceptable and incompatible with any form of democratic dissent," the far-right leader continued, calling for a "return to normalcy."

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted "the will of the Brazilian people and the democratic institutions must be respected!"

"There are traces of Trumpism in what happened with stirred-up far-right activists entering Congress," added Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares.

Albares said the Bolsonaro supporters had followed a pattern that was "practically identical" to that of the Trump supporters who stormed the US capitol two years ago.

- Pope -

Pope Francis condemned the "weakening of democracy" in the Americas, citing the storming of government buildings in Brazil in his yearly New Year's address to ambassadors.

"I am thinking of these last few hours in Brazil," he said, in a line that was not included in the pre-released text.

P. O'Kelly--BTZ