Members of Brazil's indigenous Kayapo protest to demand help against virus

Dozens of indigenous protesters blocked a main highway through the Brazilian Amazon Monday, demanding help against the new coronavirus and an end to illegal mining and deforestation. Wearing traditional feather headdresses and body paint, the protesters set up a road block across highway, the main artery connecting Brazil's mid-western agricultural heartland to the river ports of the Amazon.

The blockade caused a long line of semi-trucks hauling corn and soybeans to form outside the town of Novo Progresso, in the state of Para. The coronavirus pandemic has hit especially hard among indigenous people in the region. The virus is believed to have arrived in the region with illegal miners operating on the reservations. The protesters demanded the government act to stop such encroachments by gold miners and deforestation in the Amazon, blamed mainly on illegal farming and ranching.