The Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) informs that on Thursday (18) a meeting was held in the Tabatinga community, in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land (TIRSS), with the presence of about 300 indigenous leaders and representatives of the MPF/RR, PF/RR, and Funai/RR. On the occasion, the community delivered a letter asking for the immediate departure of the Military Police from the Indigenous Land and reported to the federal authorities how the police attack happened last Tuesday (11/16), which left 12 indigenous people injured with lethal and non-lethal ammunition.
The meeting in Tabatinga was held at the request of the communities. During the meeting, 15 vehicles from the Military Police and the Fire Department were in the vicinity of the community. The agents only left the site after leaders asked the MPF prosecutor, two PF delegates and two Funai representatives present to mediate the withdrawal of the troops from the surroundings of the community and from within the Indigenous Land. No member of the Military Police or the state government participated in the meeting.
Regarding the attack, community leaders reported that on the afternoon of 11/16, about 20 military police officers in five vehicles, including PMs from Uiramutã and teams sent from Boa Vista, went to Tabatinga in order to comply with a decision of the Justice of Roraima in August this year that determined the removal of the surveillance posts of RR-319 (Transarrozeira, near the Viruaqui River bridge), and RR-171 (near the Urucuri River bridge). The Tabatinga surveillance post is an initiative of the 76 communities in the Serras region and is located in a vicinal that gives access only to indigenous communities. The control aims mainly to curb the entry of materials that supply illegal activities that are harmful to the lives of indigenous communities, especially mining, drug trafficking, in addition to the sale of alcoholic beverages, etc.
According to the leaders of Tabatinga, a team from the Uiramutã PM had gone to the community last weekend to try to deactivate the post. On Monday night (11/15), a resident of Água Fria also passed through Tabatinga, when he forced his car against the current placed to control the flow of vehicles, and accused the indigenous people of impeding his passage and causing damage to his car, which the community denies. Information about the case of this alleged impediment of the passage and the damage to the car was passed on to the Military Police of Uiramutã, who returned to Tabatinga on 11/16 with police reinforcement sent from Boa Vista to deactivate the checkpoint.
The community reported that around 9 am on 11/16, Military Police were in the community and already acted with brutality with the people who were at the surveillance post. Around 4:30 pm, they returned. Reports are that after approaching Tabatinga, they fired a first gas bomb at women and children, despite the fact that the chain of the checkpoint was already down, allowing the free movement of the police.
In sequence, the Military Police began to shoot towards people and houses. About 80 indigenous people, including residents and leaders who were at the Tabatinga post, took refuge in neighboring areas. In the rush, more people were injured, and children were lost, only to be found hours after the attack, quite frightened. A video showing the attack on one of the houses was widely disseminated in the local and national press.
According to reports, the PMs stayed about 1h30 in the community, invaded two residences, threw bombs in the rooms, and collected knives, bows and arrows. They also invaded the school and the community's health center, where they destroyed solar panels, discarded medicines, and seized radio equipment from Sesai. They also took residents' personal belongings, and collected part of the ammunition and bombs used in the attack.
Residents also said that the Military Police demonstrated that they had clear orders to pursue the community leaders. Of the 12 indigenous people injured by the shots, at least two were hit with a lethal weapon. The tuxaua from Tabatinga was shot in the left leg, at the knee. His brother was shot in the right side of the chest, and the bullet was lodged in his body. He underwent surgery in the early hours of 11/17 at the General Hospital of Roraima, in Boa Vista, to remove the projectile.
Also according to the community, on the nights of 16 and 17/11, police vehicles were passing around Tabatinga as a form of intimidation. In addition, on these two nights, four indigenous people who were passing through the region were assaulted by the Military Police. Two of them were taken to the headquarters of Uiramutã, about 15 km from Tabatinga, and were only released after leaders went to the police detachment in the municipality. The house of an indigenous woman in the region was also invaded and a young man was beaten by the Military Police with rifle butts.
In Tabatinga, residents collected several detonated capsules, some of them rubber, and also rifles and 40-point pistols, as well as stun grenades. On Thursday, bullets of lethal ammunition were also collected in the community and handed over to the Federal Police for forensics. Until this Friday (19), the community reported insecurity and fear of a new attack by police forces, and asked for the investigation of the case.