17 October 2007
A mob of 300 loggers trapped eight Greenpeace activists in an office of the Brazilian environmental protection agency (Ibama) in the Amazon. The loggers demanded Greenpeace hand over a dead Brazil nut tree, collected yesterday with government permission, from illegally cleared and burnt public land. The tree was to be part of an exhibition exposing the destruction of the Amazon and its contribution to climate change. Today, the Brazilian government gave in to the loggers, and revoked Greenpeace's licence to remove, transport and exhibit the Brazil nut. The tree has now been taken, in custody of the loggers, to the local town square. Yet, the activists are still not safe.
