Brazil police surround Rio indigenous museum protesters 22 March 2013 Last updated at 14:46 Brazilian police have surrounded a building near Rio de Janeiro's Maracana football stadium in an apparent bid to evict a group of indigenous protesters. One report said there had been clashes and that police had fired tear gas. More than 20 families have lived in the building, which used to house the city's indigenous museum, since 2006. Rio de Janeiro state has been granted an eviction order and wants to convert the building into an Olympic museum before the city hosts the 2016 games. The authorities had initially wanted to demolish the site as part of preparations for the 2014 World Cup, whose final will be played at the Maracana. They said Fifa had demanded the museum be razed, but football's world governing body denied the claim. Representatives of the indigenous community - known as Aldeia Maracana (Maracana Tribe) - have argued that the eviction is unnecessary and said they hope to be able to showcase their way of life to tourists during the World Cup and Olympic Games. The building, which is in urgent need of repair, was donated by to the government in 1847 to serve as a centre for the study of indigenous traditions. When it closed more than 30 years ago, members of indigenous communities across Brazil started to use it as a place to live. When police first surrounded the building in January, the leader of the Aldeia Maracana, Carlos Tukano, said they planned to "remain firm, but without moral or physical aggression." "We cannot fight them with bows and arrows; they are armed," he said.