Brasilia:  Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva turned himself in to federal police on Saturday, after supporters tried to prevent him from handing himself over to the authorities.

After supporters blocked his vehicle, Lula left the headquarters of the Metalworkers' Union in this city in Sao Paulo state on foot, reports Xinhua.

The embattled former head of state had spent the last two nights in the building, where he began his political career as a union leader.

Lula, who insists he is innocent of wrongdoing, denied that he was trying to evade justice by ignoring a judge's order to surrender to federal police, after his lawyers lost their latest appeal against their client's 12-year sentence for alleged corruption.

The two-time president was accompanied by leaders of his left-leaning Workers' Party and his successor and protege Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached in 2016, as well as several leftist presidential candidates running in October elections.

Lula's hopes of running for re-election were dashed this week with the decision that he must begin serving his sentence, despite pending appeals.

He has maintained the charges that he accepted the gift of a luxury apartment from construction giant Odebrecht (now called OAS S.A) in return for government building contracts were politically motivated to prevent Brazil's leading progressive candidate from taking part in the electoral process.