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Alert

TV reporters detained for two hours

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 27 January 2010, a team of TV Banderaintes reporters was detained by personnel from the Brazilian Environment and Natural Resources Institute (IBAMA) when they were covering an operation being carried out by the institute in Novo Progresso, in the interior of the state of Pará, in northern Brazil.

The IBAMA personnel asked the reporters to delete footage they had taken of the operation, in which they moved cattle that had wandered into protected areas. The journalists refused to delete the footage and were taken to the institute's offices, where they were detained for two hours.

According to the TV station, the team had attempted to request authorisation two weeks earlier, but had not been able to get in touch with the person in charge and, as such, accompanied the operation without official authorisation documents. The team was released after the arrival of the city's environment secretary, who condemned the detention.