Police sealed off part of Brasília’s Esplanada dos Ministérios after a 28-year-old man left a backpack at a bus stop near the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and was detained, according to reports from both sides of the political media divide. The bomb squad was called to assess the object, and nearby roads were closed.¹

The account from Brazil Left concentrated on the immediate uncertainty. It said the man threw the backpack near the court, tried to flee and was held by Military Police while officers awaited the bomb squad’s assessment. At the time of that report, authorities had not disclosed the contents of the bag or the man’s identity.¹

Brazil Right’s account described the same sequence through the STF’s security procedures. The court said the individual “tried to jump the Court’s fences” before throwing the backpack over the bus stop area, an act detected by its monitoring system. That prompted the activation of Operation Petardo, the Distrito Federal’s coordinated protocol for suspected explosives incidents.²

The second account also stressed that the justices had already left the building and recalled the 2024 bombing at Praça dos Três Poderes, in which Francisco Wanderley Luiz died after detonating an explosive device. Federal Police later concluded he had acted alone and without outside financing, it said.²

A post by commentator Paulo Figueiredo similarly framed the event as an attempted intrusion involving a “suspicious backpack,” adding, “There they go again.”Paulo Figueiredo (8) (pfigueiredo08)³ The reports provided no indication that the backpack had been confirmed as an explosive device.