Injured by violent incidents in the Honduran assembly

Several people, including MPs and journalists, among others, were injured tonight on the ground floor of the Honduran parliament, where violent incidents are recorded, while the main opposition forces demand the calling of a regular session.

Nerves heated up after the arrival of the activists of the ruling Party of Freedom and Establishment (Libre) at the bottom of the legislature, in support of the head of the parliament, Luis Redondo, who had previously convened a session, but only of the Board of Directors.

Among the injured, with a head injury, is deputy Antonio Rivera, from the National Party, the main opposition force.

Before the riot, in which stones and other blunt objects were thrown, outside parliament, opposition MPs reported on social media that they had been left locked inside the building, while others said they had been barred from entering.

“It’s unacceptable because they beat people,” Congressman Yuri Sabas from the Liberal Party told reporters.

Several police officers deployed on the ground floor did not intervene during the violent incident.

Representative Maribel Espinoza from the Salvadoran Party of Honduras (PSH) blamed the speaker of the parliament and stated that there are intentions to “dissolve” this power of the state.

Espinoza, one of the MPs who was imprisoned, wrote on the X social network, formerly Twitter, that they were “kidnapped”.

“I am informing the Honduran people that Luis Redondo, the security of the CN (National Congress) and the National Police, hijacked the bench of the PL (Liberal Party) and the PSH, the opposition parties, within the CN as a fraud to prevent us from hold sessions.”

In addition, he requested the intervention of the Ministry of Public Affairs.

The Attorney General (temporary), Daniel Sibrián, stated that the security of the National Congress prevents meetings of representatives from different groups.”

Journalists who were inside the Parliament before the violent events took place were expelled, although the same institution announced that “at no time did the authorities of this state branch issue an order to remove journalists from the facilities.” (…) As it has been falsely posted on some social networks, our intention is to facilitate the work of social communicators covering this source.”

The opposition demands that Redondo convenes a regular session no later than today, to extend the regular sessions from November 1 to January 24, 2024, because the session belonging to this year ends today.

Deputies did not sit for two months after they could not reach a consensus at the end of August regarding the election of a new state attorney general and deputy state attorney general, who had to take office on September 1.

After the riots, the opposition, with at least 72 representatives of the 128 that make up the legislative body, called a regular session, while Redondo demanded an extraordinary one next Thursday from Monday.