Green protesters challenge Blair

The activist was dealt with swiftly

Two environmental protesters evaded security measures to come within about a metre of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair during his official visit to Brazil.

The Greenpeace activists attempted to unfurl a banner highlighting their concern over logging in the Amazon rainforest next to the prime minister as he toured Sao Paolo.

The cordon was just a piece of tape. We were surprised at how easy it was to get close to Mr Blair

Greenpeace protester

The Greenpeace demonstration took place in Sao Paolo's botanical gardens and was dealt with quickly by security staff, with one man being carried away after he was wrestled to the ground.

Downing Street has yet to comment on what took place.

Mr Blair is visiting Latin America, where he is pushing an agenda of trade liberalisation.

Earlier, the group had given the prime minister a letter urging him to honour a promise made at the G8 summit in 2000 to ensure that only sustainable wood was imported into the UK.

Tony Blair enjoys the flowers in the botanic gardens

Speaking for Greenpeace David Logie said: "We handed the letter to Tony Blair, and he seemed happy to accept it.

"A little later, two Greenpeace activists broke through the cordon with a big banner and were unveiling it a couple of feet from him when they were forcibly and very quickly removed by security guards.

"The cordon was just a piece of tape. We were surprised at how easy it was to get close to Mr Blair."

Keep your promises

He said the banner which was to have been raised near the prime minister said: "Tony Blair - Keep Your Promises".

The environmental group says it has evidence that wood from the Amazon is reaching the UK illegally.

On Wednesday Mr Blair will continue his tour of the region, which began in the Caribbean, with a visit to Argentina.

Historic visit

He will become the first British prime minister to visit the country since the 1982 Falklands War.

The Conservatives have called on the prime minister to say that the island's sovereignty is not an issue up for discussion.

But the future of the sparsely populated South Atlantic islands are not on the agenda as Mr Blair and President Fernando de la Rua will focus on trade and moves towards the further globalisation of markets.

Mr Blair is hoping to develop a dialogue with Brazil, Argentina and Mexico ahead of the next round of world trade talks in November.

But moves towards removing barriers to international trade do have opponents.

Acknowledging the controversy that exists around globalisation the prime minister's official spokesman said: "The prime minister believes the people at the sharp end of the globalisation debate have a much more realistic view of the benefits of globalisation than was seen in the caricature of the debate from some of the demonstrators in Genoa."