Posted by 
Two continents and almost exactly two years apart, a violent mob storms the heart of national power in a destructive rage over the defeat of their much-criticised far-right leader.
The parallels between the January 6 riots in the US in 2021 and what happened in Brazil's capital on Sunday (Monday morning AEDT) are undeniable.
But for Brazilian-born politics and international relations expert Dr Deborah Barros Leal Farias, it's too simplistic to say both invasions come from the same place or will head in the same direction.
READ MORE: Health warning amid rise in strep A deaths in Queensland
There's even a chance, the UNSW Sydney senior lecturer believes, that the attack in Brazil by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro could reinforce and unite three national powers.
"This is me being an optimist, thinking that maybe this can actually strengthen Brazil's democracy, in the sense that you have three branches of power being attacked, and the three of them coming together and saying, 'We do not accept this'," she told 9News.com.au.
"And I think showing force right at the beginning is very important to dissuade any other wannabe protests of the similar kind taking place."
But there's also the pessimistic view: that this is just the start. That the huge, attention-grabbing mob, easily tracked in their organisational efforts through Whatsapp and Telegram groups, splinters into a mess of smaller, hard-to-monitor groups carrying out "political terrorism".
The national government has now taken control of security in the federal district where the capital of Brasília sits and hundreds of suspected rioters have been arrested.
READ MORE: More charges slapped on shed fire murder accused as police launch 'distinctive' car probe
Albanese condemns rioters
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned the Bolsonaristas who stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace just days after his inauguration as "fascist fanatics".
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the invasions.
"The Australian government stands for democracies, and people should respect the outcome of elections," Albanese said, noting the actions looked "a bit similar" to January 6 but leaving it "up to others to speculate" on their inspiration.
Bolsonaro himself also criticised the invading and vandalising of public buildings, in a condemnation Barros Leal Farias described as "tame" but "better than nothing".
And Barros Leal Farias noted a distinct silence, or even criticism, from many prominent Bolsonaro boosters, speculating the move might have scared off many of those who supported the right-winger purely as the alternative to left-wing Lula.
READ MORE: CCTV captures moment toddler is rescued after being taken during car theft in Melbourne
Similarities and differences between January 6 and 8
The lecturer sees clear similarities between January 6 and Sunday's riots in the Brazilian capital.
Both invasions were led by a group of angry supporters dissatisfied with the results of an election months earlier but the timing was significantly different.
"In the US, it was still in a process where it still hadn't been formalised (the election result). In this sense it was more fragile, the moment when they invaded," the lecturer said.
"In the case of Brazil, I mean I'm asking like, really, what was the point besides, you know, the spectacle?"
Barros Leal Farias said Bolsonaro did not "directly" contribute to the invasions while they were ongoing, in contrast to Donald Trump's "fight like hell" comments before the insurrection. As a former president instead of acting head of state, Bolsonaro also had less power than Trump at the time.
But crucially, being Sunday in the quiet summer months, Brazil's national institutions were also relatively empty, instead of the US situation where they were full of the nation's leaders voting on a key element of the transfer of power.
"It's very dramatic, and it's very visible, but they wouldn't really have anything where you could say, 'Okay, this is what we're going to do and this is how we're going to change'," the UNSW academic said.
"So, in that sense, I think Brazilian democracy was a bit safer, or actually quite a bit safer."
'Bolsonarismo can exist really easily without Trump'
Since rising to worldwide notoriety as the so-called "Trump of the tropics", Bolsonaro has often been cast in with the US billionaire and other strongman leaders.
Barros Leal Farias said while Trump and Bolsonaro supporters fed off each other, and older son Eduardo Bolsonaro was a close ally of Trump booster Steve Bannon, "it would be a mistake to say that this is a story of Trump".
"Bolsonaro was who he was, since forever … his platform hasn't changed," she said.
"So it's not like Trump brought him (into the public sphere), so there's an element there of overlap, and they feed off each other, they mirror each other, but they are independent.
"Bolsonarismo can exist really easily without Trump, but people who follow — that's the difference — people who like Bolsonaro are basically automatically attracted to Trump."
Political analysts have warned for months that a similar storming was a possibility in Brazil, given that Bolsonaro had sown doubt about the reliability of the nation's electronic voting system — without any evidence. The results were recognised as legitimate by politicians from across the spectrum, including some Bolsonaro allies, as well as dozens of foreign governments.
After Lula's inauguration came and went last week without incident, there had been an effort to remove what was left of long-standing pro-Bolsonaro camps outside state Army barracks and state-level buildings.
"It's not that Brazilians are surprised that something happened because I think, given what we've been seeing from Bolsonaristas who are still very frustrated, it's not shocking," Barros Leal Farias said.
"However, it's the difference between 'well, I think something will happen at some point' to saying, 'Okay, this happened here and it happened like this' and that is something that caught most people by surprise."
Police response criticised
In a final similarity, the local Brazilian authorities' response to the rioters and lack of preparedness was criticised harshly.
Videos on social media showed a limited presence, including officers standing by as people flooded into Congress, with one using his phone to record images.
"Brazilian authorities had two years to learn the lessons from the Capitol invasion and to prepare themselves for something similar in Brazil," said Maurício Santoro, political science professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro.
"Local security forces in Brasilia failed in a systematic way to prevent and to respond to extremist actions in the city. And the new federal authorities, such as the ministers of justice and of defence, were not able to act in a decisive way."
Federal District Governor Ibaneis Rocha confirmed on Twitter he had fired the capital city's head of public security, Anderson Torres, the former Bolsonaro justice minister, who is reportedly in the US.
Source: 9News
