MST – Brazil
29/11/2007
Yesterday morning, riot police invaded the camp Elizabeth Teixeira, in
Park Tatu, Limeira (close to Campinas), So Paulo, to evict 250 families
camping in the area. The violent action of the police left three people
wounded, among them was the member of the national directorship of the
MST, Gilmar Mauro, who was shot by a rubber bullet.
The eviction started in the morning of the 29th. A large police
contingent arrived at the camp destroying the huts. The policeman
violently refused to negotiate with the Landless. During the chock the
police fired against the families, including a disabled man on a wheel
chair, who had to be carried.
Gilmar Mauro, who is recovering, lost a piece of his ear, which has
already being surgically stitched back. “The violence used had no
precedent; they came after us like mad. After the first tear gas, we
retreated but we had no idea that they would attack us. First, First they
fired a rubber bullet and it reached my stomach, but did not enter, then
I was running and I felt my ear was hot, when I touched it, I noticed
that it was bleeding”, he says.
Gilmar reports that, even though he was wounded, he was arrested in the
camp and taken to the police car under insults and mocking by the police.
“They made me run to the police car and after a phone call, they gave up
taking me to the police station.”
According to Cláudia Praxedes, state member of the directorship for the
Movement who was also present, besides the fact that the policemen did
not dialogue with the landless, they also ignored, priests,
representatives of local councils and the Child pastoral. “After the
violence, they denied medical assistance to the people who were wounded
by their bullets”, reports Claudia. Gilmar reports that the policeman did
not stop shooting even when there were numerous children crying.
The City of Limeira received a court order for recovering the area, even
though the city has not claim on the area the land belongs to the
Union. The National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform
(INCRA) promised to the families that it would negotiate to avoid the
eviction. The landless hold INCRA, the City of Limeira and the governor
José Serra (PSDB) accountable for the situation.
The Secretariat for Public Security from So Paulo state informed that
the action was coordinated by the military in the region of Limeira, and
not the riot police. According to the MST though, the riot police was in
charge of the eviction.
History
The camp Elizabeth Teixeira was established on April 21st this year. The
Park Tatu, which formerly belonged to the Federal Railway System, has
been incorporated into the Union. The court order for the reintegration
of the site, given to the city of Limeira by the judge Flávio Dassi
Viana is illegal, since the park belongs to the Union.
The city of Limeira, never had the title of the area, and uses some of
the spaces of the Park to perform activities that degrade the
environment. Inside of the park there is a “rubbish dump”, that is
operating in inadequate conditions and further damaging the already
polluted river Tatu, which runs through the city of Limeira and meets
Piracicaba River.
Due to the situation, the families organized yesterday afternoon,
November 28th, a rally in the camp to state their determination to resist
and remain in the area. The rally also demanded for the area to be
immediately used for the Agrarian Reform. The families there are in the
camp were already farming vegetables and greens in the area.
Diggers350 – an
e-mail discussion/information-share list for campaigners involved with
THE LAND IS OURS landrights network (based in the UK web ref.
www.tlio.org.uk)
The list was originally concerned with the 350th anniversary of The
Diggers (& still is concerned with their history). The Diggers appeared
at the end of the English Civil war with a mission to make the earth ‘a
common treasury for all’. In the spring of 1999 there were celebrations
to remember the Diggers vision and their contribution.
You can find out more about the Diggers and see illustrations at:
http://www.bilderberg.org/land/
That is a private web site which is not part of The Land Is Ours
And neither is this web site: http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/memos.html
