An irate motorist has shot dead two environmental protesters blocking a road.
Astonishing pictures and footage show how the driver, who was caught in traffic, got out of his car and gunned down the demonstrators when they refused to move in Panama.
The pair were participating in a third week of protests on the Pan-American Highway in Chame against a controversial government mining contract in the country, officials said.
One person was arrested in connection with the incident on Tuesday, Panama’s attorney general said on the social network X, formerly Twitter.
Officials did not confirm how the demonstrators died while blocking a road in the east of the country, but local reports suggested they were shot by a driver who was blocked when attempting to get past the protest.
This is the shocking moment an irate motorist shot dead an environmental protester in Panama. He went on to shoot another man in the incident before being detained
Footage appeared to confirm the reports, showing an elderly man in a great shirt confronting the protesters with a handgun before pulling the trigger at least twice, downing two of the demonstrators.
One man, seen in a black t-shirt holding a flag, got into a heated argument with the man as he confronted the group who’d set up a road block with stones on tyres across the middle of the highway.
The video, which has been seen in full by MailOnline, then cuts to the man holding the flag falling to the ground.
Seeing the danger they are in, several panicking protesters move away from the man to the side of the road.
However, a second man wearing a black t-shirt stays to confront the gunman, and is also shot.
He is shown hobbling away to the side of the road as other protesters run for cover, before slumping to the floor.
Pictures of the first victim being treated on the road by others at the scene would later show he was shot in the neck. Bystanders also rushed to help the second man, with one woman seen putting her fingers over his wound.
It was reported that neither of the men survived their injuries.
The video circulating on social media also appeared to show the alleged shooter removing a tire from the blockade while still carrying the gun. A body lies on the road nearby.
Police also published a photo of the detainee – an older man with greying hair and glasses – seated with one hand cuffed to a pipe, either in a police station or van. He was earlier seen walking down the road towards the protesters
One man, seen in a black t-shirt holding a flag, got into a heated argument with the man (lfet). The video cuts to the man holding the flag falling to the ground
This is the shocking moment one of two environmental protesters blocking a road in Panama was shot dead by an irate driver
The first man to be shot is seen being treated on the ground
A second man also confronted the gunmen. This photo was taken moments before he was also shot by the angry motorist in Chame, Panama
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Photographs from the scene showed the gunmen being led away into a police car.
Police also published a photo of the detainee – an older man with greying hair and glasses – seated with one hand cuffed to a pipe, either in a police station or van.
A vigil was later held for the two men who were killed in the incident.
The deaths followed local reports that a demonstrator was run over and killed on November 1 by a foreigner attempting to cross a roadblock during a protest in the west of the country.
Several avenues in the capital were blocked Tuesday by small groups of protesters, while the Pan-American Highway was obstructed in several spots, hindering transport of food, fuel and medicine.
The contract, given final approval October 20, allows the local subsidiary of Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals to continue operating an open-pit copper mine in a richly biodiverse jungle west of the capital.
The contract is for the next 20 years – with the possibility of extending for a further 20 years if the mine remains productive.
Since protests began, the government nearly passed legislation that would have revoked the contract, but it backtracked in a late-evening debate at the National Assembly on November 2.
The man is seen standing in the middle of the road after being seen to have shot two people in the middle of the protest
A man is seen holding a gun after walking up to a teachers’ blockade on the Pan-American Highway in Chame
The man, still holding the handgun, is seen attempting to clear the blockade in the road
A man is arrested after shooting two protesters with a gun in the middle of a teachers’ blockade on the Pan-American Highway in Chame, Panama
The angry motorist is seen being put into the back of a police van after the shooting incident on Tuesday
People react after witnessing a man shoot two protesters with a gun in the middle of a teachers’ blockade on the Pan-American Highway
A woman participates in a vigil for two two men killed in the shooting incident during Tuesday’s protest
In an effort to calm tempers, congress last week passed a law that imposes a moratorium on new metal mining contracts and left it up to the Supreme Court to decide on whether to allow the contract with First Quantum Minerals.
Environmentalists have welcomed this decision by lawmakers, saying indeed it is the court that should rule on whether the contract violates the constitution.
But a powerful construction union called Suntracs, teachers unions and other organizations want the contract to be annulled through a law passed by Congress.
As a result, they are continuing their protests.
