MADRE Denounces Peruvian Police Crack Down on Indigenous Protesters

WASHINGTON - June 9 - Early Friday June 5, as hundreds of Indigenous protesters blocked a highway in the northern province of Bagua, a police force of some 600 opened fire into the crowd, killing 25 and injuring more than 150. In subsequent clashes over the weekend, up to 22 police officers and at least 40 Indigenous people, including three children, have been killed.

MADRE decries the police brutality that led to these killings and notes that the human rights crisis in Bagua is ongoing: the government has declared a curfew from 3pm to 6am, protesters have been labeled “terrorists,” and Peruvian troops have occupied towns.

MADRE joins the international Indigenous movement in condemning the Peruvian government’s incursions onto Indigenous territories in the Amazon ...

MADRE is an international women's human rights organization that works in partnership with community-based women's organizations worldwide to address issues of health and reproductive rights, economic development, education, and other human rights. MADRE provides resources, training, and support to enable our sister organizations to meet concrete needs in their communities while working to shift the balance of power to promote long-term development and social justice. Since we began in 1983, MADRE has delivered nearly 25 million dollars worth of support to community-based women's organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and the United States. For more information about MADRE, visit our website at www.madre.org

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/06/09