Access to Brazilian lower house restricted during impeachment vote

The Chamber of Deputies will limit the access to its premises from April 11 through 21—the period during which the impeachment proceedings against Dilma Rousseff are slated to be voted on at both the special committee and the house floor. Institutional visits will also be suspended during those days.

In a note released Saturday (Apr. 9), the speaker's board of the Chamber of Deputies also announced that, starting on April 15, only Congress members, civil servants, service providers, and people with special credentials will be allowed in the house.

The measures affect not only the access to the facilities but also how the press will be authorized to enter. Specific credentials will be required from journalists entering the Green Hall, where the house floor is, and each of the galleries leading to it.

The board explained that the decision is based on issues related to the security and protection of the people as well as the physical, historical, and cultural property of the Brazilian lower house of Congress.

Police patrolling

The patrolling in the areas outside the National Congress will be the task of the legislative police of both houses of Congress, with the support of troops from the Secretariat for Public Security of the Federal District. Also, the government of Brasília announced that no camping is to take place anywhere in the Esplanade of Ministries, a central area of the city, where the seats of the legislative, executive and judiciary powers are located.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira