An
unknown number of Hondurans have taken to the streets today in an effort to
stop the coup that the military, in league with Congress and the Supreme Court,
has carried out against democratically elected President Manuel "Mel"
Zelaya.
Due to intermittent
power outages and heavy rain, independent media within Honduras has had extreme difficulty
transmitting news. This means that while there's been plenty of news in the
mainstream media about the actions people with a lot of political power have
been taking--from Chavez and the ALBA nations to the Organization of American
States to the United States--there's been very little reported about what
rank-and-file Hondurans have been doing to reverse the coup.
However,
it is clear that Hondurans are resisting. People are taking the streets in Honduras despite incredibly hostile
conditions created by the military. Radio Es Lo De Menos reports that their
colleagues on the ground have been fired at by snipers who are positioned in
rooftops around the city. They stress that the gunfire at this point has only
been in the form of "warning shots" and no one has been reported
injured from gunfire.
The Civic
Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) wrote in a
communiqué,
"We tell everyone that the Honduran people are carrying out
large demonstrations, actions in their communities, in the municipalities;
there are occupations of bridges, and a protest in front of the presidential
residence, among others. From the lands of Lempira, Morazán and Visitación
Padilla, we call on the Honduran people in general to demonstrate in defense of
their rights and of real and direct democracy for the people, to the fascists
we say that they will NOT silence us, that this cowardly act will turn back on
them, with great force."
Radio Es
Lo De Menos reported that the military has set up roadblocks all over the
country in an attempt to prevent Zelaya supporters from reaching the capital.
The soldiers are also reportedly attempting to shut down public transportation.
Photos
from around the internet show that Hondurans are in the streets resisting.
Pictures taken outside the Presidential Palace following the kidnapping of President Zelaya.
Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty
Oswaldo Rivas
Zelaya
supporters took to the streets in an attempt to prevent military reinforcements
from arriving at the Presidential Palace:
Oswaldo Rivas
There are
protests all over Tegucigalpa, trying to impede military
movements:
Oswaldo Rivas
This man
holds a banner in support of a referendum for a new Constitution:
Esteban Felix
So soldiers punched him:
Esteban Felix
People cast symbolic votes in today's
controversial public opinion polls. While soldiers seized ballot boxes in many
locales, in some towns people managed to rescue the seized ballot boxes from
the soldiers and cast their votes:
Oswaldo Rivas
Soldiers
have been incredibly hostile to the media that is trying to report the story
from the ground:
Esteban Felix
The
Washington Post reports: "Soldiers try to prevent journalists from filming
as they patrol the area around the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa, Sunday June
28, 2009.
Soldiers arrested Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya and
disarmed his security guards after surrounding his residence before dawn
Sunday, his private secretary said. Protesters called it a coup and flocked to
the presidential palace as local news media reported that Zelaya was sent into
exile."
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