The justice minister, Jose Gregori, told a news conference in the capital, Brasilia, that the federal police would launch a special division to prevent the MST from occupying farms and public buildings.

Brazil is tired of the lack of respect of liberty

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso

The land reform minister said that any future land invaded by squatters would be excluded for two years from the government's agrarian reform programme.

The Brazilian Government has come under heavy fire in the past few days and not just from the MST.

A response to critics

Its critics on the right say the authorities have been consistently too soft on the landless movement, encouraging the MST to push for more by occupying farms and public buildings.

The latest measures seem designed to put an end to those criticisms.

It is currently up to local police forces in the various states to deal with land invasions.

The government says it will bring in the federal police to draft a national strategy to protect property against squatters.

Agrarian reform package

The authorities have also announced changes to the agrarian reform programme, which they say has redistributed more land than any other in Brazilian history.

Land Reform Minister Raul Jungmann said he would also take tough action against landowners who he said encouraged invasions by the MST as a way of pushing up property prices.

None of this will please the MST, which had already promised to leave most of the buildings it occupied earlier in the week.

The movement says that land reform has been deprived of funds because of a government austerity programme, and sees itself as a victim rather than an instigator of violence.

On Thursday, the funeral took place of a landless campaigner shot dead during a clash with police in the southern state of Parana.