Brazil's Lula sworn in over protests as Rousseff faces impeachment

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as chief of staff to his successor Dilma Rousseff on March 17 as a judge sought to block his appointment and Congress began proceedings to impeach her in a deepening political crisis.

Police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of opposition demonstrators who clashed with Lula's leftist supporters outside the presidential palace where he was sworn in, while ministers and corruption investigators traded barbs throughout the day. 

Spontaneous protests also blocked major avenues in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, spurred by anger that Lula's appointment will shield the former president from prosecutors who charged him with money laundering and fraud as part of a sweeping graft probe centered on state-run oil company Petrobras. 

Only Brazil's Supreme Court has jurisdiction in cases against ministers. Shortly after the swearing-in ceremony, a federal judge in Brasilia issued an injunction against Lula's appointment on the grounds it blocked "the free exercise of justice." 

Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo vowed to appeal the injunction against Lula joining the government, which he called the decision of a partisan judge. 

The standoff inflamed tensions that are already running high between Brazil's executive and judiciary branches, as the Petrobras probe reaches Rousseff's inner circle and hangs over a congressional impeachment committee named on Thursday. 

Calls for Rousseff's impeachment have centered on  allegations, unrelated to Petrobras, that she broke budget rules to boost spending as she campaigned for re-election in 2014. A 65-member impeachment committee in the lower house of Congress will now study if there are grounds to try her in the...