Indigenous groups protest across Brazil

Many of Brazil's indigenous peoples are feeling threatened that their land rights currently guaranteed by the constitution are at risk.

In response, indigenous peoples and supporters protested across Brazil Wednesday (October 2) in an effort to keep their rights in tact.

The object of the demonstrations were in part to protest against what indigenous groups see as an attack on their territorial rights by special interest groups lobbying congress on behalf of mining and energy companies.

Currently in Brazil's House of Representatives, an amendment is being considered that would take away the power to demarcate indigenous land that currently rests with the federal government and reallocate the responsibility to Congress.

Proponents of the amendment believe that some land that belongs to indigenous groups is laying unnecessarily dormant when it could be used for the benefit of the Brazilian economy as a whole.