Several reported dead in Honduras turmoil

Source: Amnesty International

Several reported dead in Honduras turmoil
25 September 2009

The Honduran authorities must immediately halt their "repressive" response to a week of violent political unrest that left five people reportedly killed, Amnesty International has said.Police are alleged to have shot dead an 18-year-old man in San Pedro Sula on Tuesday. Four more deaths have been reported in the capital Tegucigalpa amid widespread demonstrations against the de facto authorities.

"The de facto authorities must put an immediate halt to these repressive tactics and commit to respecting fundamental human rights," said Susan Lee, Amnesty International's Americas Director.

There has been a sharp rise in police beatings, mass arrests of demonstrators and intimidation of human rights defenders since the return to Honduras on Monday of deposed President Manuel Zelaya, who was expelled from the country in a coup in June. There are reports that protestors have been shot by security forces. A 65-year-old man died of gunshot wounds during a demonstration in Tegucigalpa. The circumstances of three more reported deaths in the capital remain unclear. The man reported to have been shot dead in San Pedro Sula was identified as José Jacobo Euceda Perdomo, 18.

Amnesty International understands that police raided poor residential neighbourhoods in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, searching for opponents of the authorities who had taken part in protests. Police are reported to have fired live ammunition and tear gas as they entered homes, before beating and detaining individuals. Young people appear to have been particularly targeted.

The location of those detained in Tegucigalpa remains unclear. Some were taken to the main police stations, while others may have been held in the residential neighbourhoods. Such irregular methods of detention place individuals at risk of grave human rights abuses, since their detention may never be formally registered. Witnesses in Tegucigalpa have also reported seeing soldiers randomly beating people on the street with wooden clubs.


Read more: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/several-reported-dead-honduras-turmoil-20090925

aparently, golf courses are more important than life itself.

to the embassy had been killed but was so tired that I don't remember where I read it and now can't find it. He's just gone in the fog.