Brazil's Indigenous march before 'ruling of the century'

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Thousands of Indigenous people marched toward Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday to pressure justices expected to issue a ruling with far-reaching implications for land rights.

Wearing feather headdresses and with their bodies painted, they sang and danced along their 5-kilometer (3-mile) route. The group, which has been camping all week in the capital behind the National Theater, is comprised of some 6,000 people from 173 ethnic groups across the country, according to Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples, a rights group and one of the organizers.

Justices were scheduled to start evaluating a lower court's ruling that invalidated a claim by some Indigenous people in Santa Catarina state to what they say is their ancestral territory. The lower court based its decision on allegations the group wasn't occupying the land in October 1988, when Brazil’s constitution was signed after the nation’s return to democracy, which the group denies.

Protest organizers say the court’s decision could be “the ruling of the century,” because negating the 1988 benchmark would force judges across the country to impose that understanding on similar pending cases, and also affect the fate of a related, controversial bill advancing in Congress.

Brazil's conservative President Jair Bolsonaro suggested on Wednesday it would prompt new requests to officially recognize hundreds of Indigenous territories.

Farming groups argue the 1988 cutoff date provides certainty regarding property law, but rights defenders say it ignores the fact many Indigenous people had been forcibly expelled from their lands, particularly during the military dictatorship, or may not have formal means to prove possession.

“The criteria isn’t functional for determining whether or not a...