Bomb scare in Brazil ahead of Lula da Silva inauguration

A backpack found near where President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was staying in Brasilia prompted a bomb scare on Tuesday, days before he assumes office, authorities said. 

The bomb squad was called over to investigate the abandoned bag and block off the area around the hotel. The backpack, however, was found to contain only personal belongings. 

The bomb scare has left a nervous atmosphere in Brazil as Lula prepares to take office after one of the tensest elections in a generation. 

The incident comes in the wake of the Brazilian police foiling an actual bomb plot on December 24. Authorities arrested a man with ties to a group of pro-Bolsonaro election deniers who have been camping outside of the army headquarters in an effort to convince the military to overturn the election results. 

The man, identified as George Washington Sousa, confessed to making the explosive device and planning to detonate it along with other camp-dwellers. They had hoped that such an incident would "provoke a military intervention... to prevent the installation of communism in Brazil."

The recent incidents have prompted Lula’s transition team to increase security protocols ahead of Sunday’s inauguration, according to incoming Justice Minister Flavio Dino. 

According to Dino, the transition team also plans to ask the Supreme Court to suspend the carrying of firearms in the nation’s capital over the next few days. 

"We will ask Justice Alexandre de Moraes... to suspend the carrying of firearms in the Federal District between tomorrow (Wednesday) and Jan. 2 or 3," Dino told journalists.

"The goal is that even people who have permits... have this suspension by court order, so that any carrying (of firearms) in this period will be considered a crime."