The News
Thursday 26 of December 2024

Honduras Police Tear Gas Anti Re-election Protesters


Supporters of the Liberty and Refoundation party (Libre) are seen amidst tear gas fired by police during a nationwide protest against the re-election bid of Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández for the 2017 election, in Zambrano, on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, October 3, 2016,photo: Reuters/Jorge Cabrera
Supporters of the Liberty and Refoundation party (Libre) are seen amidst tear gas fired by police during a nationwide protest against the re-election bid of Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández for the 2017 election, in Zambrano, on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, October 3, 2016,photo: Reuters/Jorge Cabrera
Urged on by the opposition Liberty and Refoundation Party, protesters took toll stations in the center and north of the Central American country, sparking clashes in which at least 14 people were arrested

Clashes broke out in Honduras on Monday as police fired tear gas on demonstrators blocking highway toll stations in protest against efforts by the ruling party to enable presidential re-election and keep the incumbent Juan Hernández in power.

The protesters were also demonstrating against increases in highway toll rates and the cost of electricity.

Urged on by the opposition Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre), protesters took toll stations in the center and north of the Central American country, sparking clashes in which at least 14 people were arrested, a police official said.

Libre is the party of former president Manuel Zelaya, who was deposed in a 2009 coup after a bitter political stand-off over re-election, which Hernández’s party has backed for the next vote, due towards the end of 2017.

Hernández, of the conservative National Party, has not said whether he will seek re-election, nor has he ruled it out.

Last year, the Supreme Court of Honduras struck down a law that banned presidents from seeking a second term.