Brazil has sold off the rights to build a massive hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rain forest amidst legal wrangling and heavy protest from indigenous groups. An auction went ahead Tuesday after a Brazilian court overturned a lower court’s attempt to delay the bidding in order to weigh environmental concerns. Opponents say the dam will devastate tens of thousands of indigenous Amazonian residents and threaten wildlife. Indigenous activist Antonia Melo said the dam’s approval will lead to intensified protest.

Antonia Melo: “This is a deadly project, a project which isn’t socially, environmentally or economically viable. We would like to say that we will keep resisting, and from now in a much stronger way.”