Sunday Clashes in Catarina and Niquinohomo, Masaya, Leave Several Wounded

Sunday night’s attack on protesters in Catarina and Niquinohomo, after a day sit-in in Monimbó, Masaya, left several wounded.

In Facebook Live broadcasts by several different witnesses to the events, protesters denounced the Sandinistas for allegedly attacking them with homemade mortars.

The confrontation occurred at the Catarina roundabout and several of the streets of Masaya. Then the conflict passed to Niquinohomo, a neighboring municipality.

Videos show people running from police in riot gear.

The protesters said that the Sandinistas attacked them. Afterwards, demonstrators moved from Monimbo to Catarina, to confront the Sandinistas.

At the moment there are no official reports of injuries in this clash.

But unofficially it is known that several people were injured.

In addition, riot police throw tear gas, forcing the evacuation of residents, with their children,  of the areas surrounding where the confrontation occurred

The situation occurred after a rally in Monimbó, organized by the April 19 Movement, in which they demanded a free demonstration.

For his part, in his Twitter account, Monsignor Silvio Báez, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua, asked the government and the National Police to “save the possibility of dialogue” by suspending the attack in Catarina.

However, University students condition dialogue. “They have confirmed to me from reliable sources since Niquinohomo that there is riot gunfire, that they have taken the Catarina roundabout and the entrance to Niquinohomo, they can not walk in the town, they suspect that there are wounded, that the government demurs that they want dialogue! \” said Báez.

In Monimbó the population remains on alert and they maintain their barricades.

Nicaragua is under protests in the streets since last April 18. The situation has left at least 45, unofficially up to 63, people dead.

In social networks, a video was also broadcast in which residents in Catarina are seen burning the FSLN campaign house, in protest against the attack they suffered tonight. In Diriomo, the Sandinistas have mobilized to the FSLN campaign house, to avoid being burned, as happened in Catarina.

Businessmen criticize. On Twitter, AmCham called for an “immediate cessation of violence and repression in Niquinohomo and Catarina, we all want a just country.”

For his part, the president of Cosep, José Adán Aguerri, published: “The government and the police should immediately stop the repression, it is enough to continue to shed the blood of brothers.”