Reuters :
Protesters clashed with police in Paraguay´s capital, Asuncion, late on Friday as anger over the government´s handling of the coronavirus crisis boiled onto the streets and forced the resignation of the country´s top health official.
Security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas on hundreds of rioters who gathered around the Congress building in downtown Asuncion, while protesters broke down security barriers, burned road barricades and threw stones at police. The riots, which turned the capital’s historic center into a make-shift battlefield of fire, smoke and gunshots, broke out amid growing outrage as coronavirus infections hit record levels and hospitals verged on collapse throughout the South American nation.
“It is a pity that young people have taken this too far. They are people who seek only to destroy,” Interior Minister Arnaldo Giuzzio told the Telefuturo television channel. “This violence does not make sense.”
Earlier on Friday, health minister Julio Mazzoleni resigned, a day after lawmakers called for his ouster. Mazzoleni is the latest of several top health officials across Latin America forced from their jobs in recent weeks amid increasing anger over the handling of the pandemic and slow rollout of vaccinations.
