Some 2,000 Indians of various tribes marched in Brasilia Tuesday for rights on lands they claim as their own, staging brief clashes with police in front of the National Congress building.

The altercation occurred when small groups of Indians tried to enter the Parliament building, but were prevented by the authorities.

The police arrived firing tear gas and the Indians responded by shooting arrows and throwing spears.

In addition to demanding that the process of demarcation of indigenous lands be expedited, protesters rejected a draft law that has been brought to the Congress, which proposed altering the rules governing the delimitation of those territories.

Decisions on those lands are so far being made by the State National Indian Foundation, but if the project was approved, that responsibility would be transferred to Congress, where there are parliamentary groups representing the interests of companies operating in those lands.

According to the Indians, those groups could benefit from large landowners who claim ownership of indigenous lands, which on many occasions have unleashed violent conflicts.

According to a recent report by the Pastoral Land Commission, a body linked to the Brazilian episcopate, over the past year, 61 people were killed in the midst of conflicts arising over Brazil's lands. Thirteen of them were Indians.

In memory of Indians killed in recent years, protesters left outside Parliament dozens of coffins next to signs that cried out for an end to violence on their land.

The demonstration was held in light of a meeting of leaders of various ethnic groups throughout the country, which will be held in Brasilia this week.
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