The dramatic images were captured by the Reuters news agency, showing the tense situation between police and workers who are suspected of having cut down the forest. The logging is done with the help of fire, and has been pointed out as the main reason for the many fires in the Amazon that have attracted much international attention.

According to the police, the suspects must have opened fire, whereupon the police had to hide and take shelter. However, no one should have been injured, and no one should have been arrested at the incident. Police say they have destroyed equipment belonging to the suspects, Reuters writes.

Wasted 12,000 square miles

According to official figures from Brazil, illegal logging, mining and agriculture has scrapped nearly 12,000 square kilometers in the Amazon this year alone. Critics point out that President Jair Bolsonaro's encouragement of agriculture and logging in the Amazon has led to more forest fires.

Forest fires in Brazil's part of the Amazon, which make up more than half of the world's largest rainforest, have risen sharply in 2019, according to the government's own figures.