Peru: Police fire on unarmed indigenous tribes' oil and gas protest

from guardian, updated 17 June 2009:

Both sides report at least 30 deaths and many more injured
Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent, and agencies
[original article]

Indigenous tribes who are protesting about oil and gas projects in the Amazon clashed with Peruvian security forces on Friday, leaving dozens dead and injured.

The bloodshed broke out before dawn when police tried to lift a road blockade by thousands of Awajun and Wambis Indians near Bagua in the remote province of Utcubamba, 870 miles north of the capital Lima.

Both sides reported at least 30 deaths - including nine police - and dozens wounded. Each blamed the other for the mayhem.

Police in helicopters fired live rounds at peaceful protestors and dropped tear gas canisters, killing 22 protestors, indigenous leader Alberto Pizango told reporters in the capital Lima. "I hold the government of President Alan García responsible for ordering this genocide."

The government said police were attempting to retake control of a lawless area when they came under attack from tribes who were armed with guns and set fire to government buildings.

The advocacy group Amazon Watch backed the indigenous version of events. "Eyewitnesses report that police attacked from both sides firing real bullets into the crowd as people fled into the hills. As the unarmed demonstrators were killed and injured, some wrestled the police and took away their guns and fought back in self-defence, resulting in the deaths of several police officers."

Tension has been simmering in the rainforest since April, when about 65 tribes mobilised 30,000 people to disrupt roads, waterways and pipelines. Backed by environmentalists and Catholic bishops, the Indians protested that proposed oil, mining and timber projects would devastate the area's ecology and their culture.

Under controversial laws, the government signed deals with mostly foreign companies to open the forest and to generate billions of dollars in revenue in one of South America's poorest countries.

The Peruvian rainforest is the largest swathe of Amazon outside Brazil. According to one study oil, gas and timber deals would cover an estimated 70% of the forest and potentially turn Peru into a net oil exporter.

Earlier this week the government rebuffed opposition attempts to reverse the legislation in congress and ordered security forces to lift the jungle blockades.

The government accused a left-wing opposition leader, Ollanta Humala, of fomenting the protests to destabilise the country. He told reporters that García's administration was the destabilising force. "The government has decided to solve this social, economic and political problem not in congress, where it should be solved, but on the battlefield."

[original article]

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