Police fires bombs at indigenous protesters at the National Indian Foundation

A protest of indigenous people at the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) was attacked with tear gas and pepper spray by the Military Police of Brasilia, the nation’s capital. The protest was set against Bill 490/2007, which makes the demarcation of indigenous lands almost impossible.

The mobilization was part of the “Levante Pela Terra” [Rise for Earth], which brings together about 800 indigenous people from over 35 ethnicities in protest against anti-indigenous measures. In a letter after the event, the protesters called for the removal of Marcelo Xavier from the presidency of FUNAI. “This is the worst management in the history of the Foundation, which no longer fulfills its function of protecting and promoting the rights of indigenous peoples, but rather negoatiates our lives and instrumentalizes them in favor of the interests of agribusiness and illegal mining,” says the text.

PL 490/2007 is being discussed in the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) of the House of Representatives, chaired by Bia Kicis, a Bolsonarist congresswoman.