Police in three Bolivian cities on Friday joined anti-government protests, in one case marching with demonstrators in La Paz, in the first sign security forces are withdrawing support from Bolivian President Evo Morales after a disputed election that has triggered riots.
Bolivian Minister of Defense Javier Zabaleta said a “police mutiny occurred in a few regions,” but he rejected the idea of a military intervention “at this time.”
Bolivian Police Chief Vladimir Yuri Calderon had previously denied that a police rebellion was under way and called the Cochabamba incident isolated.
Photo: EPA
“There is normalcy in the rest of the country and we hope that services will resume,” he said.
Morales took to Twitter to denounce the police rebellion as a coup.
“Before the international community, we denounce this attack on the rule of law,” Morales wrote.
He called on Bolivians to protect their democracy and constitution.
Morales earlier convened an emergency meeting with some of his ministers. The scope of the police rebellion was not immediately clear.
Bolivia has been rocked by deadly violence over opposition claims that Morales rigged his re-election last month.
On Friday dozens of police joined demonstrators marching along Prado Avenue in the capital and shouting slogans against Morales, reporters observed.
Bolivian TV broadcast footage of police shaking hands with demonstrators in downtown La Paz — a stark contrast to the previous three nights, when the two sides clashed.
In some La Paz neighborhoods, police retreated to their barracks rather than take on protesters who shouted: “Police, our friends, the people are with you.”
Units in the southeastern city of Sucre and the opposition stronghold of Santa Cruz said they were joining a rebellion launched by police officers in the central city of Cochabamba.
Police in Sucre “are joining in support of the comrades who have mutinied in Cochabamba,” a uniformed officer, his face covered, told local TV from the door of a police station.
“We cannot continue with this narco-government, with this unjust democracy,” he told the TV.
Police from the Santa Cruz command also closed their station doors and several uniformed men climbed onto the roof, waving red, yellow and green Bolivian flags.
Hundreds of opposition supporters crowded around police stations in La Paz and in the northeastern city of Trinidad to urge police there to reject Morales.
A 20-year-old student died in clashes on Wednesday between pro and anti-government demonstrators in Cochabamba, bringing the overall toll to three dead since the disputed Oct. 20 election.
Luis Fernando Camacho, an opposition leader, thanked the police who have split with the government.
It was Camacho who over the weekend urged the security forces to join the opposition.
“I cried with joy,” he said on Twitter. “Our police are so great. Thanks for siding with the people. May God bless you.”
Additional reporting by AP
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese