Thread by @Sandra_Cuffe

Wait, what's going on in #Guatemala?! The Sequel.

There are going to be massive protests around the country again this afternoon, so as I did last week, I'll tweet some context, protest pics, etc in THIS HERE THREAD:

There's a major political crisis in #Guatemala that shows no sign of waning. I'm not going to start at the beginning. I did an epic thread last week with background and reporting from last week's mass protests, congress fire, and repression. Catch up here:

https://twitter.com/Sandra_Cuffe/status/1330190755764326403

First off, for on-the-ground reporting today, most journalists here will be out reporting. If you understand Spanish, I'd especially recommend the community-based @PrensaComunitar network and feminist publications @ruda_gt & @laCuerda2, as well as @Factor4_GT and @_ojoconmipisto.

I covered last Saturday for Al Jazeera so today fellow freelancer and sometimes co-conspirator @palabrasdeabajo will be doing that. @sofismenchu & @lanegrisgt are great wire agency correspondents and @estebanbiba and @johanordonez and others are great wire photographers.

I started this thread way too late, so I'll add updates on what has happened since last Saturday once I'm in the plaza. In the meantime, enjoy these bean-related calls for protests. Bean-related protest signs will probably be the feature of my reporting today...

"It's not the budget, it's the looting," reads graffiti in front of the palace. This a.m. a Ministry of the Interior video explained that police officers are wearing "to serve and protect" bracelets today to remind them to protect the population. I see ~100 police, ~0 bracelets.

Human rights advocate Roxana Coronado & relatives were among the 40+ people arrested last weekend when police cracked down on protests in #Guatemala. Photos of her in custody with a "see you in the plaza" sign inspired many. As promised, she's here today, with the @CentinelasGT:

There's a lot going on in different parts of #Guatemala City's central plaza this afternoon all at once. Here's people cheering and chanting along to a song telling President Alejandro Giammattei to #RenunciaYa, among other things:

Near the very center of #Guatemala City's plaza, next to an altar to teenage girls who burned to death locked in a room in a state-run shelter facility, a protest band led the surrounding crowd in a chant for resignations across the board: "¡Que no quede ninguno!"

Ok, so I started this thread so late I didn't get to this week's updates before I got to the plaza. Maybe it's better, because I'll sum it up faster: congress nixed the budget and the president called on the OAS to mediate a so-called dialogue and most people couldn't care less.

Ok, so the bean thing, for anyone who missed it this week, is because a congressman dismissed people who critiqued the budget bill as people who eat a lot of beans. Nearly everyone in #Guatemala does. It sparked indignation, a lot of bean selfies, and so many #frijoleros memes.

As in 2015, when months of protests helped pressure congress to break its impunity pact and vote to strip president Otto Pérez Molina of immunity from prosecution for corruption (he resigned & was arrested), protests this month are diverse re class, age, ethnicity, ideology, etc.

"We are here today because they even stole our fear!"

Protests against the government continue in #Guatemala City and in many cities, towns and highways around the country.

There have been protests all week in #Guatemala: smaller rallies and a #25N march against gendered violence. Today's #28N protests won't be the last. Indigenous authorities in Sololá announced mobilizations Monday in the highland region, paralyzing the Inter-American highway.

Ok, so there has been a touch of arson in #Guatemala City. A bus was burned at the northwest corner of the plaza. Firefighters arrived and put it out quickly and now it is firefighters everywhere and no fire. Many protesters say it's a show and probably infiltrators. Quién sabe.

And now a performance is moving through the area, from #Guatemala City's central plaza to the corner of the burned out bus and up 6th Avenue toward Zona 2. Things are a little scattered now, with a waning rally in the plaza, many people hovering around the bus, and others north.

A crowd is now alongside #Guatemala's presidential palace, protected by police, calling on president Alejandro Giammattei to resign along with the Minister of the Interior, due to police brutality last week. "MINISTER MURDERER" is this chant:

"LOWER YOUR SHIELDS! LOWER YOUR SHIELDS!" protesters in downtown #Guatemala City chanted at riot police on 7th avenue. AND THEN THEY DID, as you will see in this video clip. They later moved out of the street itself, sticking to the sides. People are heading back to the plaza.

Back on 6th Av, riot police are at an entrance to #Guatemala's presidential palace, getting pelted in spurts with rocks, bottles and whatnot, which then provokes an outcry and "infiltrators" chants. Same with the fence: ppl mess it up, others put it back. A stoplight was downed.

In #Guatemala City, people have tried so many times to rock this bus and tip it. They've trashed the windows and have been letting the air out of the tires on this side to further their efforts. There's some "yes we can" chanting. The side of the bus says "There is no president."

People still haven't managed to tip the bus. People trash it (little fires, graffiti, etc) and then get back to the main task of trying to tip it while the crowd watched and cheers. A "Que renuncien todos" graffiti on the back has already been painted over with "Guatemayas Vive."

It's probably hard to make out, but it's protesters in #Guatemala City forcing riot police who were outside the National Palace to retreat down the street and around up 7th Av heading north. Police eventually used tear gas, which is lingering a bit in the plaza. People still out.

I avoid the very center of protest crowds, so I didn't see what sparked it, if anything, but earlier people booed human rights reps who most defend the right to protest, kicking them out near prez palace. Also there, a feminist journalist was attacked:

https://twitter.com/jovannagarcon/status/1332855103817125889?s=19

Some protesters are back at it at the bus. They're so close to tipping it. Most people are gathered around watching again. To be clear, the bus is already trashed. It's at the corner of the palace, which has been left entirely alone despite people having forced a police retreat:

Here's the most recent attempt. This and maybe a few hundred people standing around watching and cheering the rocking efforts is essentially the protest at this point. Occasionally someone approaches the palace and people yell them away from damaging anything.

"¡QUE VIVAN LOS FRIJOLES!"

Heard just now from one of the #Guatemala bus destruction crew. There are periodic fire breaks from the tipping efforts. A dozen helmeted photographers are taking photos of the back tire, lit on fire after this one.

That's it for my on the ground updates. Just want to say, not everyone engaging in vandalism is an infiltrator. There are marginalized skater youth and all sorts of people out, and saying they aren't protesters or calling *everyone* infiltrators is classist bullshit. /end thread