Honduran police Wednesday detained dozens of supporters of deposed President Manuel Zelaya who had camped out for three months to protest his ouster, under new restrictions on civil liberties.
The crackdown came despite promises from the de facto regime to retract a controversial decree to clamp down on rights, criticized even by some backers of the June 28 coup.
Zelaya, who is holed up in the Brazilian embassy, was ousted by the military after riling the country's political and business leaders with his plans to change the constitution, which many saw as a bid to scrap term limits.
His surprise return September 21 has since raised tensions, although a top official from the Organization of American States on Wednesday said dialogue between Zelaya and the de facto regime could start next week.
Riot police at dawn surrounded the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) -- where farm workers from across Honduras had been camping out to attend protests -- and detained 55 people, police said.
"We going to take them to the prosecutor's office to assess if they have committed crimes," said police spokesman Ernin Cerrato, at the site in central Tegucigalpa.
"Anything can happen at the moment. It's a dictatorial regime," said Rafael Alegria, a farm workers' leader.
Interim leader Roberto Micheletti's regime on Monday shut two dissident media stations and threatened to close the Brazilian embassy if Brazil failed to meet a 10-day deadline to handover Zelaya or give him asylum.
Several hundred pro-Zelaya supporters on Wednesday protested in front of one of the closed media stations, shouting "We love radio Globo!", surrounded by anti-riot police and soldiers.
Journalists gathered near the presidential palace holding banners asking the de facto leaders to let them reopen and return equipment confiscated by police.
The coup leaders drew fire from allied lawmakers over the sweeping measures limiting the rights to demonstrate and free speech.
From his embassy refuge, Zelaya on Tuesday called on his supporters to protest "to demand that the closed media outlets go back on air."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a lifting of the clampdown and said threats on the Brazilian embassy were "unacceptable."
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, the previous mediator in the crisis, said Tuesday Micheletti had told him he may lift the decree in order to prepare for elections in November.
Arias appealed to the international community to help the elections take place, to avoid isolating Honduras.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate previously put the San Jose accord -- which includes Zelaya's return ahead of the elections -- on the negotiation table.
The US ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, said Tuesday the Arias plan was the "key" to overcoming the crisis, while some on both sides began to talk of possible compromise based on the San Jose accord.
Llorens underlined that US officials had condemned the June 28 coup, after a senior US representative to the Organization of American States criticized Zelaya's return to the country last week as "irresponsible."
In Brazil, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim defended Zelaya's presence in his country's embassy as a positive move to help resolve the crisis, in comments to the Senate.
"Things are very positive," John Biehl, a special representative for OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza, told journalists here on Wednesday.
"Dialogue will probably start when the foreign ministers are here," said Biehl, referring to an OAS mission including Insulza and regional foreign ministers due to arrive in Honduras on October 7.
US Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Wednesday she would also travel to Honduras next week to meet with members of the de facto regime, of which she has been a strong supporter.
The de facto leaders are seeking to arrest Zelaya, who veered to the left after his election and forged an alliance with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, on charges of treason and abuse of authority.
Source: AFP Global Edition
