Bagua is a bloodbath

This story is now massive. Here are some of the latest reports (it's difficult to work out what is and isn't confirmed right now, so don't take the below as total gospel):

• 20 civilians dead. Update; locals now say 22 dead, though Interior Minister Mercedes "MaggieThatcher" Cabanillas says that it's not 22 dead, it's 30 injured with bullet wounds.
  
• 9 police dead, seven police injured
  
• 2 reporters dead (only seen this reported in one place so far, however)
  
• city of Bagua is a riot zone, with buildings burning, running battles, looting of shops etc
• union leaders calling for García to resign and condemning the bloodbath of the indigenous
• García calling indigenous leader Alberto Pizango a criminal
• hospitals collapsing under the quantity of injured
• more locals arriving in the city centre to defend their fighters

All channels and all news media in Peru are one story only.

Photos from La Republica

UPDATE: Good summary from Mate Pastor (Spanish language) that also calls for the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Yehude Simon. Quite right.

UPDATE 2: Apparently most if not all the police deaths happened when a police helicopter crashed, killing its occupants. The unconfirmed story has the heliopter overflying protestors who fired on the aircraft, bringing it down. Also, one of the dead civilians is Alberto Mauin, internationally garlanded pacifist, über-respected indigenous leader and personal friend of Queen Sofia of Spain.

Peru: indigenous vs gov't and oil: The killing begins

It was one of those things I didn't want to say out loud, but the whole Peruvian Amazonas state of emergency and protests against the laws that Twobreakfasts has tried to force through in order to develop the Amazon basin oil business looked like spiralling out of control at any given moment.

That moment came today. In Bagua Grande Amazonas, at a place called "Curva del Diablo", indigenous protestors have blocked the main highway for the last 10 days. This morning police moved into break up the roadblock. The toll left after the confrontation is four dead police officers, one dead indigenous leader and 20 injured. UPDATE: It's getting worse. Authorities are now reporting between seven and ten dead police, two dead civilians and local health services "are collapsing" under the number of injured. UPDATE 2: It's getting worse and worse. Unofficial numbers now talk about twenty-five civilian deaths. This number is as yet unconfirmed, but even if it's half that number we're looking at a true bloodbath. Also, reports talk of government and APRA party building being burned and running battles in the town centre of Bagua Grande.
Points to make:

• My sincere condolences go out to the families of the police officers. They were basically ordered into battle this morning by superiors that knew there would be casualties.

• These indigenous are not messing about. This is not some sort of posture. They will kill and kill again to protect their lands, be in no doubt. And before you try to pigeonhole them, they're not a band of ignorants; these people know both sides of the argument but the need to safeguard the land is an ancient cultural calling. They are willing to die if necessary to protect the area from forced development.

• They are also extremely efficient fighters. Seriously, you don't mess with these dudes, even with an AK-47 in your hands and body armour on your chest.

All this came after a pathetic scene in Peru's parliament this week when the chamber was about to vote down the controversial law, the so-called 1090 decree, (the so-called "law of the jungle") when suddenly the APRA members threw a faked hissyfit and stormed out of the building, thus stopping the final vote. The locals shouldn't kill police? Of course. Police shouldn't have been ordered in? Of course. Leaders in The Republic of Lima have just used the bodies of four police officers as cannonfodder and an excuse to send in the army? Yes, that as well.

This cannot end well. It's all very, very sad.