Protests cloud Brazil celebrations

A protester watches police through clouds of tear gas

Celebrations marking Brazil's 500th anniversary were cut short as police clashed with Indians and their supporters protesting against social exclusion.

This is a country where there is still murder of indigenous people, where there is still no justice. I don't understand why I should celebrate

Marilene Jesus dos Santos of the Pataxo Ha-Ha-Hae tribe

During the celebrations, the Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said it was his country's good fortune to have been colonised by the Portuguese.

But he also tried to appease the protesters: "In Brazil today we have a sharp awareness of the social wounds that are part of our heritage of these 500 years."

Earlier, police clashed with indigenous Indians, who were trying to stage a protest march near the coastal town of Porto Seguro - the focal point of the festivities.

Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio also attended the celebrations, which included the symbolic planting of a Brazil wood tree and a sail-past by a regatta of 40 ships, including some replica 14th Century sailing vessels.

Thousands of landless and indigenous people had attempted to converged on Porto Seguro, but were stopped in their tracks by tear gas and stun grenades.

About 5,000 police were deployed in the security operation , along with helicopters and two warships.

The BBC's Stephen Cviic in Porto Seguro says the break-up of the march has deepened the split within the indigenous Indian movement.

Some Indian leaders accused white activists of trying to appropriate the indigenous cause for their own ends, while others said the government was contributing to the split by co-opting Indian chiefs.

Heavy security

The official programme for the celebrations was released only hours before they began in an attempt to foil the protesters.

Indigenous groups say the anniversary is nothing to celebrate

Police were given orders to keep protesters out of the town, and about 140 people were arrested.

Some 30 buses were hired to bring about 1,000 landless demonstrators camped on a roadside 65km away.

Several hundred protesters from black rights, student and labour groups tried to join the Indians but were tear-gassed and pushed back by police.

President Cardoso had earlier cancelled a visit to an indigenous village on security grounds.

But he has made recent promises to demarcate more indigenous areas.

'Genocide'

Indigenous Indians say that racial genocide, forced labour and disease have dramatically cut their population from an estimated 5 million before the Portuguese arrived to today's estimate of 350,000.

"This is a country where there is still murder of indigenous people, where there is still no justice. I don't understand why I should celebrate," said Marilene Jesus dos Santos, from the Pataxo Ha-Ha-Hae tribe.

In Portugal, few celebrations were held to mark the date.

Brazilian and Portuguese flags were hoisted to the sound of the national anthems at the former site of the Expo 98 World's Fair, the centre stage for events marking the date in Portugal.

Official celebrations began on 8 March in Lisbon with the presidents of both countries launching a trans-Atlantic regatta of Portuguese and Brazilian sailors.