The pro-Bolsonaro ‘insurrection’ was pathetic — and, for now, has made President Lula stronger

The real threat from Brazil’s radical right is not from showy coup attempts, but from less deluded ultra-conservatives playing the long game, writes Richard Lapper

Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro stand on the roof of the National Congress building after they stormed it in Brasilia on Sunday. Picture: AP/Eraldo Peres

Clad in canary yellow football shirts or draped in the colours of the Brazilian flag, pro- Bolsonaro activists applauded a line of heavily armed police as it marched into their midst in Brasília on Sunday.

Hundreds of extreme rightwing followers had been gathering in Brazil’s modernist capital since late on Friday.