Brazil Indians, activists protest over Amazon dam

By Raymond Colitt

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The construction of a proposed dam on Brazil's Xingu river will flood homes of 16,000 people, dry rivers and fuel logging, activists and tribal Indians warned on Wednesday as concern over Amazon destruction rises.

The resignation last week of Environment Minister Marina Silva, widely seen as a guardian of the world's largest rain forest, has spurred concerns that Brazil's government will accelerate roads, pipelines and power plants in the region to fuel its fast-growing economy.

The Belo Monte dam, under the auspices of state power company Eletrobras, would be one of the world's largest hydroelectric power plants, after China's Three Gorges and the Itaipu dam shared by Brazil and Paraguay.

More than 1,000 environmentalists and tribal Indians gathered this week in the town of Altamira in the northern state of Para to protest against the dam and discuss alternatives.

An Eletrobras official, Paulo Fernando Rezende, was injured and temporarily hospitalized on Tuesday in a skirmish with Kayapo Indians armed with clubs and machetes who had started a war dance in response to his upbeat presentation.

Eletrobras condemned the incident and said on Wednesday its planning for Belo Monte would not be deterred by protests.

Riot police are guarding the event in Altamira, where activists are planning a demonstration on Friday.

In 1989, an Indian protest forced a similar dam project to be abandoned. Then, pictures of a Kayapo Indian woman holding the blade of her machete to the face of today's Eletrobras president figured prominently in local and foreign media.