Hundreds of indigenous people protested in front of the Brazilian Congress headquarters against the land demarcation bill, an initiative that has already generated clashes with the police, the UOL news agency reported
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th June, 2021) Hundreds of indigenous people protested in front of the Brazilian Congress headquarters against the land demarcation bill, an initiative that has already generated clashes with the police, the UOL news agency reported.
The lawmakers planned to consider the demarcation of lands belonging to indigenous peoples at the meeting of the Constitution and Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. The bill will modify the juridical status of the lands that belonged to the indigenous people before the Brazilian Constitution was adopted in 1988. These territories were permanently inhabited by them and were used, among other things, for their industrial activities.
The groups of indigenous people have been protesting in the capital for days. Wearing traditional garb and bows, they marched to Congress, the UOL reported on Wednesday. A day earlier, the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and the indigenous people responded by firing arrows, one of which penetrated the leg of an officer.
According to the proposal, indigenous people who want full protection of their lands must prove that they lived there in 1988. The commission approved the bill on Wednesday evening, setting the stage for a plenary vote.
The country's Supreme Court, in earlier rulings, rejected initiatives to open up indigenous territories to the business community, finding that commercial development of the reserves was not possible.
