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Brazil's 500th anniversary marked by protests |
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April 24, 2000 PORTO SEGURO, Brazil, APR 23 (AP) - Celebrations marking Brazil's 500th anniversary were tempered by violence as police clashed with thousands of Indians and their supporters protesting what they called Portugal's invasion.
Police used clubs and tear gas to break up the protests Saturday, and there were unofficial reports that 15 Indians were injured. More than 140 people were detained and could be charged with disturbing public order, said Gustavo Rios, the local public security chief.
"We came to march in peace," said Nailton Pataxo, a demonstration leader. "It is the government that is meeting us with violence. This is the true face of Brazil, 500 years later."
Thousands of police with metal detectors blocked access roads, causing huge traffic jams, and searched people trying to reach the seaside resort of Porto Seguro, where Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral first made landfall on April 22, 1500. He is believed to be the first European to land in the South American country.
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who stayed on a nearby island overnight for security reasons, cut short his official program because of the protests. At a lunch with Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio, Cardoso tried to appease the protesters.
"In Brazil today we have a sharp awareness of the social wounds that are part of our heritage of these 500 years," he said.
Sampaio also spoke at the lunch. "There is no longer room for resentments over the historical past, which had moments of greatness and misery, freedom and subjugation," he said. "We are all responsible for the time we were given to live. We inherited the past, and it is our duty to understand it, to transform the present and not reject it with belated guilt."
There are about 330,000 Indians today in Brazil, compared with as many as 5 million when Cabral landed.
Mounted police fired tear gas to break up a crowd of about 2,000 Indians from all over Brazil who marched from the nearby Coroa Vermelha reservation to join the protest. In feather headdresses and red-and-black body paint, many Indians carried spears and banners in Portuguese reading "500 years of resistance" and "Who said Brazil was discovered?"
Several hundred protesters from black rights, student and labor groups tried to join the Indians but were gassed and pushed back by police. Some were clubbed.
"They won't allow any demonstration that disfigures the celebration," said Raimundo Bujao of the black rights group Quilombo Niger Okan. "This is Brazil for all the world to see."
Roberio Nunes of the federal district attorney's office said the police had shown "a clear violation of human rights. People have the right to protest."
Estado news agency Saturday evening reported that A local judge ordered the arrest of a police commander said to have led the police action against protesters, the news agency Estado reported Saturday. Authorities were unable to locate the commander, identified only as Muller, to make the arrest, the report said.
About 55 kilometers (35 miles) west of Porto Seguro, thousands of landless workers camped by a roadside, saying they would not join the marches because of the police blockade and would protest there.
Cardoso was to attend a folkloric dance and greet a fleet of wooden ships, including replicas of Portuguese caravels that set sail from Portugal on March 9 to retrace Cabral's route. He was also scheduled to inaugurate the Discovery Museum near the reservation and attend an orchestra concert in the evening, but the foreign ministry said he would probably cancel because of the protests.
Across Brazil, many cities staged massive open-air concerts. In Brasilia, Brazilian pop star Roberto Carlos commanded the show.
In Portugal, flags from both countries were hoisted to mark the date but otherwise there were few celebrations marking Cabral's arrival in Brazil. Leading daily newspapers ran front-page photos of Brazilian Indians, and radio and television stations broadcast long features on the conflict.
Brazilian culture is prominent in Portugal, where soap operas, soccer players, musicians and food from the South American nation are wildly popular.
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