Timber on a truck near indigenous lands, Maranhão state. Logging in and around Indigenous Land is common. ©Greenpeace/Ismar Ingber/Tyba

Trucks filled with timber from illegal logging operations in the Amazon have been stopped in their tracks by an indigenous village protesting the continued exploitation of their lands.

With little or no support from the local or federal authorities, the Pukobjê-Gavião people in Maranhão state, Brazil, are refusing to stand aside as their forests are destroyed by illegal loggers.

The Pukobjê-Gavião have blocked four trucks and a tractor filled with fresh timber from leaving their lands.

Frederico Pereira Guajajara, a member of the neighboring Indigenous Land “Arariboia”, says he was assaulted as he began filming the Pukobjê-Gavião protests as the trucks were trying to leave their land.

“Loggers beat me on my head, pushed me, broke my phone and wanted to throw me in the fire, but did not because the other Indians started to leave,” he said. Continue reading →