Porto Alegre, 1/27/2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Yesterday afternoon there was a violent conflict between members of the Landless Rural Worker Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem-Terra) (MST) and the Military Police, in the town of Santana do Livramento, in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul on the border with Uruguay. Twelve members of the MST and eight policemen were injured. Another six members of the MST were arrested.

[it should be explained that these members of the MST are no longer landless - they have been settled on homesteads under the government's land reform program]

The conflict in Santana do Livramento was one of a series that took place at a number of Banco do Brasil branches around the state. The MST occupied the banks demanding debt renegotiation [debts under the family farming program] and new credit. The police were enforcing a court order for them to vacate the banks. (AB)