A GUNMAN has killed two anti-mining protesters in Panama after opening fire in broad daylight.
Shocking footage shows a man getting out of his car calmly before brutally gunning down the demonstrators after they refused to move out of the road.
The man shooting one person dead moments after he killed anotherEPA
EPAPeople who saw the horror shooting were left in tears[/caption]
The men were brutally shot in the middle of traffic after the driver couldn’t pass themEPA
The viral video circulating on social media shows an elderly man in a grey shirt opening fire on people blocking the Pan-American Highway, that links Panama to the rest of Central America.
One arrest has been made so far.
Police have published a photo of the man in the video on X, formerly known as Twitter, who can be seen seated with one hand cuffed to a pipe under police supervision.
The protests were over a controversial government mining contract in the country and are in there third week.
One man in a black t-shirt is seen in the chilling video getting into a heated argument with the gun wielding man before the camera cuts and he is on the floor lifeless.
A second man then gets shot after confronting him and is shown hobbling away to the side of the road as other protesters run for cover.
He is then shown a few seconds later slumping to the floor.
The deaths followed local reports that a demonstrator was run over and killed on November 1, by someone attempting to cross a roadblock during a protest in the west of the country.
Several roads in the capital were blocked on Tuesday as the Pan-American Highway was also badly obstructed in several places.
The protests have apparently stopped food, fuel and medicine being delivered to the right places on time.
The contract that’s caused so much fury allows a local Canadian mining company – First Quantum Minerals – to continue to work on an open-pit copper mine in a richly bio diverse jungle near Panama City.
Protesters were in uproar when the contract was announced as being extended for the next 20 years and then a potential further 20 years on top of that if the mine is still able to be used.
In an effort to calm down the outraged public, congress last week passed a law that left it up to the Supreme Court to decide on if the contract with First Quantum Minerals was allowed.
Environmentalists appreciated the decision, saying it should always be the court that decides if a contract violates the constitution.
But a passionate construction union called Suntracs, made up of teachers unions and other organisations are ordering for the contract to be ripped up and reversed.
They plan on keeping up the protests until this happens.
The chilling man walked up to the protesters in a calm manner before opening fireEPA
Police have made one arrest so farEPA
EPATwo were brutally shot in the middle of traffic after protesting over a controversial government mining contract[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
