Indigenous group clashes with police in Rio

A group representing several indigenous Brazilian tribes clashed with police while trying to break into the Brazilian Congress to protest a bill that they fear would endanger their way of life, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

A policeman's toe was injured after his boot was pierced by an arrow during the confrontation Tuesday.

The group was protesting the bill that would relax regulations for demarcating indigenous land and a second bill that would transfer the power to demarcate such land from the executive to the legislature.

"The indigenous people were not consulted on the bills," said Sonia Guajajara, the national coordinator of Brazil's Association of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous leaders recently also protested the nomination of Congresswoman Katia Abreu to the agriculture ministry.

A long-time defendant of the land owners' interests, Abreu is viewed as a fierce rival of indigenous groups and environmentalists.