LANDLESS MOVEMENT FARMERS CONFRONT POLICE IN BRAZILIAN INTERIOR, 2001-03-26 (photo)

Waving their trademark red flag, peasant farmers of Brazil's Landless Movement (MST) confront riot police during a protest at the base of a bridge which gives access to a farm belonging to the country's ambassador to Italy, near Uruana in the state of Minas Gerais, some 120 miles (280 km) from the capital Brasilia, March 26, 2001. Sixteen of the rural workers were wounded in clashes as the MST, which promotes illegal land occupations in its fight for land rights, tried to invade the farm owned by prominent statesman Paulo Flecha de Lima, Brazil's ambassador to Italy. The MST farmers will continue to occupy the area indefinitely, hoping to negotiate land rights with the government. GN/SV