Bolsonaro backers deface Congress in ugly anti-Lula stand

Decked out in the colors of Brazil's national flag, supporters of vanquished ex-president Jair Bolsonaro smashed windows and sowed destruction as they barged into Congress Sunday clamoring for "military intervention."

The sea of yellow-and-green clad "bolsonaristas" flooding up the ramps leading to the roof of the modernist Congress building starkly evoked a similar attack: the storming of the US Capitol building in Washington by supporters of then-president Donald Trump -- a Bolsonaro ally -- almost exactly two years ago.

Some forced their way into the legislative offices of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, leaving defacement in their wake as a mark of hostility to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, inaugurated exactly a week earlier.

Unlike with the Capitol attack, which happened on a Wednesday, Brazil's Congress was not staffed, it being a weekend.

Outside the building, an irate crowd braved the rain and clouds of tear gas to hurl insults and objects at the police.Some assaulted and robbed an AFP photographer as helicopters flew overhead, dropping tear gas cannisters.

"We patriots were robbed at the polls by Lula," 49-year-old civil servant Isabella Silva told AFP among the throngs.

"I want the armed forces to take power and clean up Congress; do a general cleanup," she said, echoing the demands of her fellow protesters.- 'We will be back' -The crowd was finally dispersed by police, but their demands stayed behind in messages painted onto the facade -- including a call to the military for "Intervention now!"

Another read: "Destitution of the three powers," referring to the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

Backers of far-right Bolsonaro, who left Brazil two days...