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| Lula in police custody in Brazil after tense standoff with supporters | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is in police custody after a tense showdown with supporters who tried to block him leaving a union building. | |
| Da Silva left an exit of a metal workers union surrounded by several bodyguards who pushed back supporters trying to prevent him from leaving. Getting beyond them, da Silva entered a police vehicle in a convoy of cars. He is expected to be transferred to the city of Curitiba in the neighbouring state. | |
| Lula, convicted of corruption, had said earlier on Saturday he would turn himself in to police, a day after defying a judge’s order to start serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption that derails his effort to return to power this year. His supporters then blockaded the building to prevent him from leaving. | |
| In a fiery speech to a crowd of red-shirted supporters outside a steelworkers union headquarters, Brazil’s first working-class president had this week insisted on his innocence and called his bribery conviction a political crime, but relented after a nearly 24-hour standoff with authorities. | |
| “I will comply with the order and all of you will become Lula,” he had told the cheering crowd. “I’m not above the law. If I didn’t believe in the law, I wouldn’t have started a political party. I would have started a revolution.” | “I will comply with the order and all of you will become Lula,” he had told the cheering crowd. “I’m not above the law. If I didn’t believe in the law, I wouldn’t have started a political party. I would have started a revolution.” |
| His imprisonment would remove the most influential figure from Brazil’s political scene, and the frontrunner of this year’s presidential campaign, scrambling a wide-open race and strengthening the odds of a more centrist candidate prevailing, according to analysts and political foes. | His imprisonment would remove the most influential figure from Brazil’s political scene, and the frontrunner of this year’s presidential campaign, scrambling a wide-open race and strengthening the odds of a more centrist candidate prevailing, according to analysts and political foes. |
| It also marks the unmistakable end of an era for Brazil’s left, which has been out in force in the streets outside the union headquarters in metropolitan São Paulo where Lula huddled with aides and allies while police awaited his surrender. | It also marks the unmistakable end of an era for Brazil’s left, which has been out in force in the streets outside the union headquarters in metropolitan São Paulo where Lula huddled with aides and allies while police awaited his surrender. |
| He was convicted of taking bribes, including renovation of a three-storey seaside apartment that he denies ever owning, by an engineering firm in return for help landing public contracts. | He was convicted of taking bribes, including renovation of a three-storey seaside apartment that he denies ever owning, by an engineering firm in return for help landing public contracts. |
| “I’m the only person being prosecuted over an apartment that isn’t mine,” insisted Lula, standing on a platform alongside his impeached successor Dilma Rousseff and leaders of other leftwing parties. | “I’m the only person being prosecuted over an apartment that isn’t mine,” insisted Lula, standing on a platform alongside his impeached successor Dilma Rousseff and leaders of other leftwing parties. |
| A Brazilian supreme court justice on Saturday rejected the latest plea by Lula’s legal team, which argued they had not exhausted procedural appeals when a judge issued the order to turn himself in. | A Brazilian supreme court justice on Saturday rejected the latest plea by Lula’s legal team, which argued they had not exhausted procedural appeals when a judge issued the order to turn himself in. |
| Under Brazilian electoral law, a candidate is forbidden from running for office for eight years after being found guilty of a crime. Rare exceptions have been made in the past, and the final decision would be made by the highest electoral court if and when Lula officially files to be a candidate. | Under Brazilian electoral law, a candidate is forbidden from running for office for eight years after being found guilty of a crime. Rare exceptions have been made in the past, and the final decision would be made by the highest electoral court if and when Lula officially files to be a candidate. |
| The union where Lula, 72, sought refuge served as the launchpad for his career nearly four decades ago, when he led nationwide strikes that helped to end Brazil’s 20-year military dictatorship. | The union where Lula, 72, sought refuge served as the launchpad for his career nearly four decades ago, when he led nationwide strikes that helped to end Brazil’s 20-year military dictatorship. |
| His everyman style and unvarnished speeches electrified masses and eventually won him two terms as president, from 2003 to 2011, when he oversaw robust economic growth and falling inequality amid a commodities boom. | His everyman style and unvarnished speeches electrified masses and eventually won him two terms as president, from 2003 to 2011, when he oversaw robust economic growth and falling inequality amid a commodities boom. |
| Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva |
| Brazil | Brazil |
| Americas | Americas |
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