Twitter abuzz over Honduras unrest

6 Jul 2009, 11:59 am   -   Source: SBS staff and agencies
0 Comments
Share This
+ Comment
0
An injured supporter of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya is taken away during clashes with Honduran army soldiers (AP / Twitpic)

An injured supporter of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya is taken away during clashes with Honduran army soldiers (AP / Twitpic)

Users around the world have flocked to Twitter, voicing their concerns and sharing witness photos over protests in Honduras.

RELATED

Users around the world have flocked to Twitter, voicing their concerns and sharing witness photos over protests in Honduras, as ousted President Manuel Zelaya attempts to return to the country.

Today military vehicles blocked the airport runways to prevent Zelaya from returning to the country.

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside the airport, and two demonstrators were reportedly killed in clashes with the military.

Similar to the aftermath of Iran's controversal election last month, online communities in Central America and beyond have voiced concern over the situation in Honduras via Twitter.

While SBS cannot verify the accuracy of user-generated content ciruclating on Twitter and other sites, #Honduras is in the top 10 trending topics on Twitter, showing the topic is generating alot of interest.

One user, @jaymieJoane slams the political ousting of Zelaya as "a huge step back for democracy > no nation has recognized the "new government".

She also criticised the United States, who she says should be doing more to prevent government coups and political unrest.

"The western hemesphere (sic) is the sphere of influence of the US so y (sic) isn't the US doing anything about the Honduras coup haha".

User @estherbrol sent around this YouTube link, showing what appears to be the Bishop of Honduras releasing a statement with English captions.

"Facing the situation of recent days we have used the information found after searching competent instances of The State Supreme Court of Justice, National Congress, Attorney General, Executive Branch, Supreme Electoral Tribunal and many other civil society organisations. All of those documents show that all Honduran Democratic Institution are operating and in place and the execution of their mandate have occurred in strict adherence to the law", said Oscar Andres Cardenal Rodriguez.

See the video here

But user @Garreton – a Chile based journalist – disagrees.

He says "Who is lying? A coup happened, if #Zelaya was outside law, then should have been tried in country not by coup and sent away".

User @notq – whose location is listed as Arizona, posted this graphic picture of what appears to be a boy killed in Honduras.  The photo is linked to a user by the name of RodrigoMx.

(Warning: Graphic) See the picture

The caption under the picture reads " A fatally wounded supporter of Manuel Zelaya is carried away after he was apparently shot by Honduran soldiers outside of the international airport in Tegucigalpa".

Both 'Honduras' and 'Zelaya' are among the top 10 search terms in Twitter.

It's expected more users around the globe will share their thoughts on the issue over the next few hours, while more amateur photos and video is expected to be posted.
 

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.