Nicaragua: 20 killed in police-protesters clash

The central American country of Nicaragua saw deaths of 20 people after protesters demonstrating over pension reforms clashed with the lawkeepers, a local human rights body informed on Sunday, April 22, AFP reported.

According to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, efforts were on to verify the actual number of casualties but confirmed that at least 20 lost their lives since protests broke out in Nicaragua earlier this week over President Daniel Ortega's plans to reform the country's pension system.

"We are dealing with more than 20 dead, but we are verifying because there is a lot of misinformation, the situation is really serious and beyond our possibilities to confirm," AFP quoted the body's director Vilma Nunez as saying.

The government on Friday, April 20, said the number of people killed in capital Managua since the protests started on Wednesday, April 18, was 10, AFP added, saying it was the last official tally.

The streets of Managua wore a devastated look following the clashes between the police and the protesters, AFP said further. Key transport services were disrupted because of the clashes.

President Ortega on Saturday agreed to speak with the private sector over the social security reforms but the private sector business union refused to hold talks unless the government stopped the repression.

Nicaragua's local media also reported on Saturday that a journalist - Miguel Angel Gahona - was shot dead by a suspected sniper in Bluefields located on Nigeria's Caribbean coast.