Brazil indigenous tribe ordered to end protest blocking key grains export route - Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-indigenous-idUSKCN25D1Z0
Kayapo indigenous people block Brazil’s BR 163 national highway, as they protest against the government measures in the indigenous lands to avoid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil August 17, 2020.
REUTERS/Lucas Landau
A Brazilian federal judge on Monday ordered protesters to clear the BR-163 highway, a main route for exporting grains from Mato Grosso state to northern ports, according to a copy of the ruling seen by Reuters.
Members of the Kayapó indigenous tribe had blocked the route in center-west Brazil on Monday, protesting against a lack of government protection from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed several of their elders.
Kayapó wearing warrior body paint and headdresses used tires and wood to block trucks carrying corn on the BR-163 highway, a Reuters witness said.
They were also protesting against the so-called Ferrogrão railway, set to cross part of the Amazon to connect grain-producing Mato Grosso state to river ports for soy and corn.
Brazil’s highway police recommended that grain trucks heading to Miritituba port in Pará state on the Tapajós River pause their journey because of the demonstrations.