Brazilian peasants protest in capital

More than 12,000 landless Brazilian peasants arrived in the capital, Brasilia, yesterday after a 17-day march to demand agrarian reform in a country with one of the world's most unequal distributions of land.

The march, the largest ever sponsored by the Landless Rural Workers Movement, was also intended to protest against the economic policies of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Government.

Since taking office in 2002, Silva has alienated many former supporters by adopting market-friendly policies and the tough fiscal discipline demanded by international investors. Brazil has tried to contain inflation by raising the benchmark lending rate to 19.25 per cent a year, one of the world's highest.