1,000 Indigenous Guatemalans Attack Police Station

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

[the people are not helpless, and eventually they reach their boiling
point. An example follows. Amazingly no one has so far been killed in
reprisal by the murderous Guatemalan constabulary.]

Tuesday October 16 9:54 PM ET (via Yahoo)

Mob Attacks Guatemala Police Station

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - A group of 1,000 Indians attacked a police
station in a rural area in northern Guatemala Tuesday burning
five police cars and leaving the outpost in ruins. Five people were
arrested, police said. 

There were no injuries in the rioting at Concepcion Huista, 220 miles
north of Guatemala City. 

Police spokesman Ricardo Gatica said the people who attacked the
police outpost were angered when authorities made no arrest in the
shooting death Monday of a local man. 

Hundreds of people began congregating around the region's only police
station shortly after midnight Tuesday. After several hours of
demonstrations, at least 1,000 protesters stormed the outpost,
forcing the small contingent of police to run for their lives, Gatica
said. 

Five of the rioters were taken into custody when dozens of police
returned to quell the demonstration. 

Local police director Elmer Aguilar said the mob caused more than
$125,000 damage. He said all police officers and other state forces
were leaving the region indefinitely. 

Local radio reports said many involved in the uprising believed
police officers were responsible for the slaying because the bullet
that killed Juan Carlos Castillo was the same caliber as those used
by officers.

Gatica said police had nothing to do with Castillo's death. 
 
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