Peruvian natives agree to 48 hour protest truce

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

LIMA (AFP) — Thousands of indigenous people across Peru late Wednesday agreed to a 48-hour truce in their 10 day protest against what they call "the law of the jungle" that opens up their Amazon tribal lands to development, officials said.

The agreement followed a meeting in Lima between Congress President Javier Velazquez and protest leader Alberto Pizango, who heads the Inter-Ethnic Association of the Peruvian Forest (Aidesup).

Velazquez said he promised to revise the controversial law in Congress on Friday.

Just before the agreement was struck, 11 people were injured in the northeastern Amazon city of Bagua when scores of natives armed with spears and stones attacked a local police station defended by some 500 police.

"There were 11 injured...