Police cover-up of Amazon clashes?
The police say they were attacked by spear-wielding indigenous protesters; the indigenous protesters say they were subject to a massacre at the hands of the authorities. Dozens have been killed, but the public still doesn't know what really happened on the morning of June 5 in Peru's Bagua province.
Issued on: Modified:
The police say they were attacked by spear-wielding indigenous protesters; the indigenous protesters say they were subject to a massacre at the hands of the authorities. Dozens have been killed, but the public still doesn't know what really happened on the morning of June 5 in Peru's Bagua province.
The crackdown began in the early morning of June 5 when 400 police troops stormed a roadblock staged by indigenous activists protesting a trade agreement which allows foreign companies to drill for oil and gas in the area. The protesters say that the agreement will lead to destruction of the land.
The authorities reported the incident as a gruesome rebellion in which 25 policemen were murdered and nine civilians killed, after which 43 were arrested.
The protesters and their supporters however, say that dozens of indigenous people were shot dead by police, hundreds more injured and more than 150 have gone missing in what they describe as a massacre.
Supporters of the protesters now say that the police are attempting to cover up the extent of the brutality by removing bodies from hospitals and dumping them in a ravine from a helicopter.
“The authorities only pay attention to the police officers”
Miguel Angel Checa Bernazzi, 44 is a financial consultant from the Amazonian town of Iquitos, Loreto, Peru. He writes a blog about the Amazon, "Desde La Amazonia".
This was pure barbarism. There might have been thousands of indigenous people and only hundreds of police officers, but the latter - a combined force of the national police and army personnel - were no match for a people carrying only spears and arrows: their traditional weapons for hunting and defense. It was undeniably disproportionate.
The authorities only pay attention to the police officers who ‘sacrificed' their lives for the cause. The natives are barely mentioned in the press. The number of those killed is covered up, and calling them what they really are - indigenous, native - is entirely avoided. Instead they're referred to as "civilians", which is true, but it's a way of playing down the importance of their background".
President Alan Garcia Perez: a “terminator”
On Thursday around 20,000 Peruvians took to the streets of the country's capital to show their support for the indigenous activists. The protest was largely peaceful save for a few scuffles which resulted in several arrests.
"The terminator, part two"
"Stop the massacre in the jungle! We're all Amazonian"
"Lock up the murderer. Hundreds of Amazonians murdered"
"In 1985 in Ayacucho. Today in 2009, Bagua"
Officers fire tear gas.
Images posted on Facebook by Christian Reynoso.
Video from local press
This footage was filmed by a reporter for Lima-based TV channel Frecuencia Latina TV. The reports were translated by YouTuber "PhotoVideoBlogger" and posted by Peruvian blogger "Peruanista", along with several other clips.
Images of the clashes posted on Amazon Watch
Taken by an anonymous reporter for the environmental activist group Amazon Watch. The group also posted raw footage of a previous police intervention on May 22.