São Paulo, 9/17/200Agência Brasil - ABr) - Some 500 protesters marched to the Congress in Brasilia yesterday to protest against Brazilian membership in the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The marchers delivered copies of a petition with more than 1.5 million signatures for the president of the Chamber of Deputies, João Paulo Cunha (PT-SP), the minister of Justice, Marcio Thomaz Bastos, and the Chief Justice, Mauricio Correa. The objective was to make the government aware of public concern that membership in the FTAA may be detrimental to Brazilian national interests.

One of the marchers was a priest, Dom Thomas Balduino, representing the National Catholic Bishop's Council (CNBB), who declared that the reason for the march was legitimate and that FTAA membership could be harmful to Brazilian farmers.

There were also protests against transgenetic crops during the march. (AB)