The federal police of Brazil on 22nd November arrested the former president, Jair Bolsonaro, on suspicion that he was planning his escape and avoiding a 27-year sentence for spearheading a coup attempt. The ruling exposed some of the rifts that exist in the country, with some pouring Champagne before the prison door of the far-right leader to celebrate his good news as his supporters were gearing up to carry out a religious performance in his honor.

In a dramatic and unexpected turn in the conclusion of a protracted and polarizing criminal case, federal police officers stormed the home of former President Bolsonaro early Saturday morning at the directive of a Supreme Court Justice to arrest the former president at the headquarters of the federal police of the country, in the capital, Brasilia.

The preemptive arrest was ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the case involving the effort of Bolsonaro to remain in the presidency when he lost to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022, when he announced that the ankle monitor of the far-right leader was violated at 12:08 a.m. on Saturday. This did not occur, according to a statement issued by his lawyers.

On the same day, a report issued by custody agents later in the day and read by The Associated Press reported that Bolsonaro said he used a soldering iron to attempt to crack open the device. In one of the court videos that the AP also watched, Bolsonaro is heard to be admitting to such an attempt. The camera shot depicts that the cap of the ankle monitor is severely damaged.

It was Bolsonaro, who was on house arrest and who was declared to be a flight risk, who was to wear the device. Andriely Cirino, his aide, stuck by his accusation by confirming that the arrest was made at around 6 a.m. on Saturday.

Dozens of cars honked in the next several hours outside the headquarters of the federal police as part of the Bolsonaro supporters’ protest. Since then, the police have attempted to keep the little, yet fierce, opposing sides apart.