5 Hurt in Clashes With Police as Shutdown of Paper Is Protested
Five people were injured Sunday in clashes with police after a Roman Catholic Mass lamenting the closure three years ago of Paraguay’s largest and only independent daily newspaper, ABC Color, witnesses reported.
Among those attending the service were U.S. Ambassador Clyde Taylor and a group of visiting Brazilian legislators. The witnesses said that when Taylor left the La Catedral church in downtown Asuncion, he was stopped by police but was allowed to leave moments later without incident.
However, they said five people who left the cathedral by side doors were struck by police, who had surrounded the building and ordered an end to the service, saying it was an unlawful assembly.
The witnesses said that about 300 people were inside the cathedral when the police arrived. Police officials declined comment, and there was no immediate response from the U.S. Embassy.
ABC Color was closed in March, 1984, by a government decree that accused the newspaper of publishing subversive articles.
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