Material from our regional editor for South America, Cristiano de Sa Fagundes.
The Bolivian assembly approved a new constitution, which grants more power to President Evo Morales on Sunday. The approval was controversial, to say the least. There was an opposition boycott in the assembly, with only 164 out of 255 deputies present for the vote. What's more, the underlying tensions between supporters of Morales and mestizo Bolivians - who consider themselves descendants of Europeans - still run deep. In the run-up to Sunday's vote, there were violent protests in the central Bolivian city of Sucre, in which at least three people were killed. The extent of the violence can be seen in this video, filmed in Sucre on Nov. 23, where the constituent assembly had been meeting. We see opposition supporters tackling the police, and later, a policeman finds himself surrounded by rioters after his motorbike breaks down.
Post your questions to Cristiano de Sa Fagundes.
The video was filmed by Paul van Hooff, a Dutch freelance journalist, and posted on 23 November 2007.
© Paul van Hooff
© Paul van Hooff
Comments
Do we know what happened to
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Tue, 11/12/2007 - 23:52.Do we know what happened to the police officer? Paul, why did you leave the scene?
Unregistered user
He survived. The movie was
Submitted by Paul (not verified) on Wed, 12/12/2007 - 03:00.He survived. The movie was too blurry. So I cut the end. I 'film' only with a Canon powershot 5 megapix with 11 minuts of footage. But it was a close call for the officer. He was bleeding all over the place.
Unregistered user
He survived. The movie was
Submitted by Paul (not verified) on Wed, 12/12/2007 - 02:59.He survived. The movie was too blurry. So I cut the end. I 'film' only with a Canon powershot 5 megapix with 11 minuts of footage. But it was a close call for the officer. He was bleeding all over the place.
Unregistered user