Sawt Falasteen - Panama declares state of emergency over deadly pension protests

The protests that erupted two months ago in Bocas del Toro, a major banana-producing region, intensified this week, culminating in clashes with police that left one person dead and around 30 people, including several officers, the police said.

Over 50 people were arrested over the unrest.

The clashes came after a huge police contingent was deployed to try clear roads that the protesters had blocked with tree trunks for weeks.

The violence peaked in the city of Changuinola on Thursday, where groups of hooded individuals looted businesses and partially set fire to a baseball stadium with police officers inside, the authorities said.

The police said that "vandals" also "took over" the airport, stole vehicles belonging to car rental companies and looted an office and a warehouse containing supplies belonging to US banana giant Chiquita Brands.

The minister of the presidency, Juan Carlos Orillac, said that the government had decided to declare a state of emergency and suspend constitutional guarantees" in all of Bocas del Toro, "in order to restore peace and order."

He said the ban on public gatherings aimed to prevent "radical and criminal groups gathering to organize acts of violence and vandalism which endanger property and people."

Right-wing President Jose Raul Mulino has been facing protests on several fronts in recent months.

Chiquita workers in Bocas del Toro went on strike in late April over pension reforms adopted by Congress in April, which workers say will force them to work longer.

Chiquita sacked thousands of workers over the strike.

The banana growers' unions called off their protest last week in a bid to reverse the layoffs but other groups have remained at the barricades.

Besides the pension reforms, Panamanians have also been in the streets over a deal Mulino struck with US President Donald Trump in April allowing US troops to deploy to Panamanian bases along the Panama Canal.

Mulino made the concession to Trump after the US leader repeatedly threatened to "take back" the US-built waterway.

Mulino has also angered environmentalists by threatening to reopen one of Central America's biggest copper mines.

M.AlAhmad--SF-PST