Thousands of Panama Women Stage Anti-Government Protest

Thousands of women dressed in white staged Panama’s largest anti-government demonstration in years Saturday, marching through city streets with supporters honking their car horns.

The march began in a northern suburb and proceeded through middle- and upper-class neighborhoods, growing in size block by block en route to the city’s center.

The opposition is demanding that the military stop running the government.

Fill Four-Lane Street

By the time the march reached Via Espana in the heart of the banking district, the demonstrators filled the four-lane street for about a mile. Government security forces stationed on nearby streets made no attempt to interfere.

The demonstration was the largest since the most recent round of protests began June 8.

Earlier Saturday at an American Independence Day celebration in the canal zone, U.S. Ambassador Arthur Davis said he expects a “positive change” in the next few days in the country’s tense political situation.

President Eric A. Delvalle is scheduled to make a speech today on national radio and television and is expected to suggest talks between the military-controlled government and opposition parties.

In another anti-government demonstration earlier Saturday, protesters lining a downtown street waved white handkerchiefs and banners at a procession of horn-honking cars in what has become a daily expression of displeasure with the government.

Forces for and against the government have taken to the streets for nearly a month since a retired top military officer accused strongman Gen. Manuel A. Noriega of corruption, election fraud and conspiracy to commit murder.

On June 11, the government suspended constitutional guarantees to try to quell the violence. It restored the guarantees 19 days later, after the U.S. Senate adopted a non-binding resolution calling on Noriega, the defense force chief, to step down. The resolution also called on the military to stay out of politics.

Ricardo Arias Calderon, head of the opposition Christian Democratic Party, said Saturday that the National Civic Crusade coalition will pursue demonstrations and economic measures aimed at forcing new elections. Elections are not scheduled until 1989.

Attacked U.S. Offices

On Wednesday, pro-government demonstrators led by at least eight Cabinet ministers attacked buildings in the U.S. Embassy complex with rocks and bottles of paint. The U.S Consulate and U.S. Information Agency shut down after the attack.