Brazil: actions against Honduras embassy not tolerable

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brazil will not tolerate any actions against its Tegucigalpa embassy, where ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya sought refuge after slipping back into the country, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Tuesday.

Amorim considered "extremely worrisome" reports that Honduran police fired tear gas at supporters of Zelaya demonstrating outside the Brazilian embassy. During the confrontation, at least two gas canisters landed inside the embassy compound, a Reuters photographer said.

As a precautionary measure, Brazil is considering sending a letter to the president of the U.N. Security Council, asking for a meeting on Honduras and on the safety of the Brazilian diplomatic mission in the country, Amorim said.

"Our first concern is the security of President Zelaya and our own," Amorim told reporters in New York, where he attends the U.N. General Assembly later this week.

"We have made contacts with countries that have direct and indirect relations with the Honduran de facto government to let them know that any action against our diplomatic mission would not be tolerated," he added.

Energy and water supplies to the Brazilian embassy were also disrupted for a few hours, the minister said, although he was not sure the was an action targeted specifically at the Brazilian embassy.

The Red Cross and the U.S. embassy are sending food to the Brazilian embassy, where some 70 people find it difficult to return home due to the street violence and the curfew imposed by the government, Amorim said.

Earlier Tuesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged Honduras' de facto government to negotiate a way out of the political crisis.

(Editing by Jackie Frank)