Global Voices Online

On Wednesday, July 5, protesters amassed outside of the University of El Salvador (UES) in San Salvador. The demonstrators were voicing opposition to an increase in the cost of bus fares and in electricity, just approved by the government in response to rising world oil prices. Street demonstrations against government policies and rising prices are common in El Salvador, especially around the UES, but this time the events turned deadly violent.

Although the order of events is not clear, some elements of the protesters (referred to by the media as “supposed students”) went beyond marching to vandalism, and tire burning. Riot police approached, and chaos erupted. The extensive media coverage of the chaos caught clear images of a masked man with helpers firing an M-16 at police, and another using a home-made weapon. The police used rubber bullets and tear gas as helicopters flew overhead. A shot went through a university office and struck a university employee in the chest. Two policemen were shot and killed and others wounded. Chuck Stewart has links to some of the media coverage on his blog.

The Salvadoran blogosphere was united in its grave concern over the violence. The events outside the UES left Ligia remembering(es) the events and fears and dangers of the years of the civil war. Soy Salvadoreño laments the deaths(es) of the police officers and laments the actions of president Tony Saca who immediately reacted to the events at the UES as a political partisan, blaming the FMLN for being a “party of assassins and dangerous people.” But Soy Salvadoreño's strongest words are for the leadership of the FMLN. He lambasts the official press release of the FMLN(es), which denounced the government for repression of a peaceful protest march and never denounced the slaying of two police officers. He asserts that the FMLN's rhetoric and inability to control its membership adds to the current crisis.
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