Cardoso apologises for violence

Native Indians had to face police barricades

Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has apologised for any excesses by the police during the country's 500th anniversary celebrations on Saturday.

Riot police clashed in the town of Porto Seguro with hundreds of protesters who planned to demonstrate against social exclusion in the country.

"If there was violence, it was not from my part. I apologise for the excesses, if they happened."

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Local media reported that 141 people were arrested and about 30 demonstrators - mainly landless people and native Indians - were injured as they confronted the police to enter the city.

"If there was violence, it was not from my part. I apologise from the excesses, if they happened," Mr Cardoso told the Brazilian media.

Official resigns

The head of the state Indian National Foundation (Funai), Carlos Federico Mares, announced he would resign in protest at the police actions.

He was quoted by the Brazilian media as saying that he "cannot be part of a government that attacks the organised indigenous movement".

A BBC correspondent in Porto Seguro, Ian Bruce, said a group of native Indians was attacked without reason by the police during a peaceful demonstration.

Indigenous people said there was nothing to celebrate

He said the indigenous people were marching toward Porto Seguro but stopped 100 metres away from a police barricade.

The police then fired tear gas to disperse the protestors.

Ceremonies and protests

Ceremonies in Porto Seguro marked the anniversary of the first arrival of Portuguese colonists in Brazil.

The Brazilian president and his Portuguese counterpart, Jorge Sampaio, took part in the official celebrations.

But protestors say what happened 500 years ago was not the discovery of a new world, but a beginning of the genocide of the native population.