Honduras' military seals airports, Zelaya lands in Nigaragua

2009-07-06 10:14:13

·Zelaya's plane circled above Toncontin Airport, unable to land as runway was blocked. ·Army troops fired tear gas to break up Zelaya's supporters, and two were killed. ·Post-coup government said no airport in Honduras is permitted to take Zelaya's plane.

    by Zhou Jianxin

    TEGUCIGALPA, July 5 (Xinhua) --

Hundreds of police and soldiers on Sunday sealed the streets leading to Toncontin Airport, in Honduras capital Tegucigalpa, ahead of the arrival of coup-toppled President Manuel Zelaya.

    All road traffic to the airport has been halted since the early hours of Sunday. Army troops fired tear gas to break up Zelaya's supporters, and two protesters were killed and several more were injured in the clashes.

    Zelaya said on Saturday that he plans to return to the nation with regional presidents and a commission from the Organization of American States (OAS) to reclaim the presidency.

    Earlier on Sunday, Enrique Ortez Colindrez, the foreign minister of the post-coup government, said no airport in the country is permitted to take Zelaya's plane.

    Several of the region's major airlines -- American Airlines, Taca and Delta have suspended flights to Tegucigalpa, the nation's civil aviation chief said.

    In so doing, the interim government was trying to prevent bloodshed as Zelaya would be arrested if he landed in the country, Ortez said.

    Zelaya left from the U.S. capital of Washington earlier on Sunday in an attempt to return home. He was in a small jet plane followed by another aircraft carrying delegation from the OAS and the presidents of Argentina and Paraguay.

    His plane circled above the Toncontin Airport, unable to land as the runway was blocked by soldiers with military vehicles.

    Zelaya was forced to land in neighboring Nicaragua and vowed to try again Monday or Tuesday to return to the country.

    "Faced with this situation, we have to go on with what we had planned," he told the Telesur news channel from the plane.

    Zelaya's supporters took the streets around the airport starting early morning. Witnesses said up to 30,000 people appeared around the airport.

    On Sunday afternoon, demonstrators broke a police cordon and entered the airport facilities. Several witnesses told Xinhua that soldiers threw tear gas grenades into the crowd, and demonstrators fought back with sticks and bottles.

    "Police are firing live rounds," a photographer with the La Tribuna newspaper told Xinhua by telephone. Two died and several more were injured in the violence. One young Zelaya supporter died after being shot in the head. Protesters said a teenage girl was also killed.

    People in Tegucigalpa are busy buying fuel and food, as anxiety rises over the uncertainties of the country's political future.

    Zelaya was ousted last Sunday, when hundreds of armed and hooded soldiers broke into the presidential palace and seized him from the bed. They forced the president aboard a plane and sent him to Costa Rica.

    Hours later, Congress speaker Roberto Micheletti was appointed interim president. Micheletti said scheduled presidential elections will go ahead on Nov. 29 and he will hand power to the new president on Jan. 27, 2010.