Brazil's Lula removes 40 soldiers from presidential residence after riots

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has removed 40 troops guarding the presidential residence after expressing distrust in the military for failing to act against demonstrators who ransacked government buildings on January 8.

His decision was published on Tuesday in the government's official gazette.

Most of the troops guarding the Alvorada palace, as the presidential residence is called, are from the army, but some are also members of the Navy, Air Force and a militarised police force.

Last week, Lula told reporters that security force members were complicit in letting a mob of supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro storm the main buildings that form the seat of power in Brasilia.

"How can I have a person outside my office who might shoot me?" asked Lula, who said members of the security services may have been involved in the uprising.

The president said last week that any "radical bolsonarista" found still working for the government would be dealt with, and cited media reports of alleged threats made by staffers inherited from the previous administration.

Investigations into the rampage have begun to show apparently intentional lapses in security that allowed it to occur.

Several thousand Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Congress, the Planalto presidential palace and the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the result of the October election narrowly won by Lula.

"There were a lot of people who were complicit in this among the military police. There were many people from the armed forces who were complicit," Lula told journalists.

"I am convinced that the door to the palace was opened to allow these people in, because I did not see that the door was broken."

READ MORE: Brazil: How pro-Bolsonaro supporters crowdfunded the insurrection

Bolsonaro voices regret

Lula has also stepped up criticism of the army for not doing anything to discourage a two-month-old encampment of Bolsonaro supporters outside its headquarters, where they clamoured for the military to overturn the presidential election result.

Bolsonaro, who left Brazil two days before Lula's inauguration and is in the United States, is being investigated on suspicion of instigating the uprising.

He has denied any link to the riots.

In a video published on Monday, Bolsonaro expressed "regret" over the events, which he described as "unbelievable."

Leftist Lula beat Bolsonaro by a razor-thin margin in October elections that followed a vitriolic and divisive campaign.

Bolsonaro has long claimed, without providing evidence, that the country's electoral system is vulnerable to fraud.

READ MORE: Brazil's Lula claims Brasilia rioters likely had inside help