[progchat_action] Guatemala army parade turns ugly
 
Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2007 23:10:29 -0500 (CDT)

Guatemala army parade turns ugly

Al Jazeera
Saturday, June 30, 2007
0:21 Mecca Time, 21:21 Gmt

Protesters in Guatemala have disrupted an Army Day parade, which they said
was an insult to the memory of the war's 200,000 mostly civilian victims.

Police on Saturday used tear gas to disperse protesters, members of the
Children's Collective, whose relatives died or disappeared in the 1960-1996
civil war.

Protesters tossed red paint on some of the marchers and later scuffled with
soldiers and their relatives.

Only minor injuries were reported.

"They fought and some were hurt," but none accepted medical treatment,
Carlos Salazar a spokesman for the firefighters, said.

Wendy Mendez, a member of the Children's Collective, said military police
sprayed the demonstrators with tear gas and pepper spray.

"We believe that an institution that committed genocide should not be
honored at the national level," she said.

A 1998 report by the Roman Catholic Church's human rights office blamed
Guatemala's military for the overwhelming majority of atrocities committed
during the civil war.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CB7062C2-81C2-4077-AD20-ECC7A004735B.
htm

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