Two people are arrested on suspicion of participating in an attack on an MST camp in Paraíba

Two people were arrested on Monday (9), suspected of participating in the attack on the Marilene Dantas Camp, linked to the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), on the South Coast of Paraíba.

The place was the target of gunshots and fires in the early hours of Sunday (8), when nine shacks were burned.

The Civil Police are investigating the case to identify those involved and clarify how the group arrived at the camp. According to Deputy Haas, the suspects shot at houses, threatened residents and shot at an electrical power transformer.

The attack took place in an area between the municipalities of Caaporã and Pedras de Fogo. Despite the shooting and fires, there were no reports of injured residents.

According to delegate Haas, the Civil Police received, around 9 am on Sunday (8), a video sent by a person linked to the MST. The images showed a gunshot entering one of the houses, close to where children were sleeping.

"A person linked to the MST contacted me and shared a video that I found shocking, of a gunshot entering one of the houses, very close to where the children were sleeping. So, we immediately began to develop a way to carry out this investigation on a large scale," he said.

According to the delegate, the men entered the camp, shooting in the air and threatening to kill residents, set fire to houses and prevent people from leaving the area.

The group also fired at an electrical power transformer.

"A group that we still don't know who they are, why they came in, firing firearms into the air, saying that they were going to kill people, that they were going to set fire to houses, that no one was supposed to leave [...] Nobody saw how they got in, there was no sound of a car, there was no sound of a motorbike, there was no trace of a motorbike or a car, so the authorship is still a bit mysterious", he explained.

After the attack, the Civil Police mobilized two Scientific Police teams to carry out investigations at Camp Marilene Dantas.

The work included a fire investigation and another for microtraces. Investigators were also called, and the Military Police participated in the action.

The investigation seeks to clarify the circumstances of the attack and identify those responsible for the shooting, fires and threats.

What is Marilene Dantas Camp?

Campamento Marilene Dantas is home to around 40 families and was occupied in April 2013. According to the MST, residents work with family farming and food production in the area.

In a statement, the movement stated that families have faced threats and episodes of violence since the beginning of the occupation. According to the organization, members of the camp have already been victims of physical attacks on previous occasions.

The MST classified the episode as part of a sequence of intimidations against the families and demanded the investigation of the case, the identification of those responsible and measures by public security bodies to guarantee the integrity of the residents.