In Guatemala City, demonstrators stormed the Congress, set fire to the building throwing Molotov cocktails, the newspaper Prensa Libre reports.
When the fire was extinguished, the protesters started throwing stones at the building. Some people were injured. However, no casualties were reported as a result of the fire.
Anti-government demonstrations are taking place throughout the country.
Vandals set fire to the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala because they happen to disagree with the budgetpic.twitter.com/ZtWyhu9N3e
— Alfons López Tena (@alfonslopeztena) November 21, 2020
Police was forced to use tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. Videos of heavy clashes with police surfaced in the social networks.
The President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giamatti called on the protesters to defend their civil position in a peaceful way. The head of state stressed that all those involved in the pogroms will be punished in accordance with the legislation.
On November 21, about 10,000 people were protesting in front of the National Palace in Guatemala City. The following day, the demonstrations continue against Alejandro Giammattei and the legislature for approving a budget that cut educational and health spending the budget. According to the protesters, the budget was negotiated and passed “in secret” while the country faced the fallout of hurricanes and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier, massive protests also erupted in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, after security guards beat a black man to death in a supermarket. More than 1000 demonstrators later attacked the supermarket. People threw stones at and set fire to one of the shops.
The political situation in Peru is also unstable. On Tuesday, the country swore in its third president in just over a week, after the wave of protests subsided on the streets of the capital, Lima.