[12/01/06] Prensa Latina Reports: Brazilian landowners attack landless

Brazilian Landowners Attack Landless

Brasilia, Dec 1 (Prensa Latina) Assassins hired by landowners attacked nearly 3,000 landless rural workers participating in a peaceful caravan, part of an initiative supporting Agrarian Reform in Brazil.

The violence took place Thursday while the landless people were approaching property of the transnational Sygenta Seeds expropriated by the Parana State government for carrying out transgenetic tests that damaged the environment.

The expropriation, which includes space for research and education on sustainable agriculture, sparked great irritation among agri-business sectors that decided on a reprisal against the rural workers supporting the government measure.

As part of its reaction, the landowning class blocked the highway with tractors and trucks and attacked the landless when they got off the buses to continue their way home on foot.

The aggression was answered with fists, stones and sticks until the military police arrived to disperse the demonstrators and reopen traffic.

According to the landowners, represented by Alessandro Meneghel, president of the Western Rural Society, whose furious comments were widely covered in the neoliberal press, the blockade and attacks were intended as dissuasive, and he threatened to use force again against future actions of the landless movement.

Meanwhile, Joao Pedro Stedile, leader of the MST (landless movement) confirmed that MST representatives will meet with President Lula on Tuesday about the need for changes in economic policy.

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