A pair of loud bangs near Brazil’s Supreme Court have led authorities to evacuate the building. At least one person died in the blasts.
A pair of loud bangs near Brazil’s Supreme Court have led authorities to evacuate the building. At least one person died in the blasts.
Authorities in Brazil evacuated the Supreme Court in Brasilia on Wednesday following two loud bangs that were heard nearby, according to a court statement
Capital police and firefighters reported that the explosion in a square in front of the court killed at least one person.
Police searched the area for other explosive devices, and the country’s solicitor general called the explosions on social media an “attack.”
The two explosions were heard within 20 seconds of each other, according to local media.
The court’s justices safely left the building after the incident, which took place at about 7:30 p.m. local time (2230 UTC), shortly after Wednesday’s session finished.
A spokesman for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the 79-year-old leader was not in the neighboring presidential palace at the time of the blast.
The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the country’s National Congress, suspended its session following the explosions near the Supreme Court.
