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(CNN Spanish) - A march called by urban music artist René Pérez, better known as Residente, and Major League baseball player Yadier Molina again demanded this Thursday the resignation of the governor of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vázquez, and ended in clashes between police and protesters in San Juan, the capital.
The incidents occurred when the police used tear gas to disperse the hundreds of protesters after they marched through San Juan from the Capitol to La Fortaleza, the governor's residence, under the shout of "Wanda, resign."
While the police established a perimeter to evict the vicinity of the residence, some of the protesters responded by throwing objects at police forces, while others placed garbage bags and other objects on public roads.
Some walls of shops and residences of Old San Juan exhibited graffiti and written messages alluding to the protest. Also, in the doors of the Cathedral of San Juan you could see writings.
- These are some of the images of the incidents and the protest in front of La Fortaleza:
https://cnnespanol2.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/15775505-atl-1.mp4
José Juan García, Lieutenant Colonel of the Puerto Rico Police, said that body "guaranteed the right of citizens to express themselves" and said they could not have agents among the protesters, "only in designated perimeters."
The cops were "trained behind the fences," Garcia said. "It is alleged that we provoke them, if we introduce personnel in that area that you say then we would validate their expression or major aggressions could occur at a time when the situation occurs," he added.
The surroundings of the Capitol were also the scene where protests against the then governor Ricardo Rosselló took place in July 2019 and led to his resignation on August 2.
Thursday's call comes after the previous weekend revealed the existence, in a warehouse in the city of Ponce, of large volumes of supplies, including drinking water, which were initially intended for victims of Hurricane Maria in 2017 and that they were not distributed among those affected by the 6.4 magnitude tremor that shook Puerto Rico on January 7.
After the discovery, the governor dismissed Carlos Acevedo, commissioner for Emergency Management and Disaster Management of the island, and ordered an investigation. Vázquez reported that he sent the results of the investigation to the Department of Justice to assess whether there was a commission of crime in the action.
At present, Governor Wanda Vázquez has not issued official statements about what happened. CNN contacted the press office of La Fortaleza and so far we have not had an answer.
ProtestsSan JuanWanda Vázquez