Above Photo: From caribbeanbusiness.com
SAN JUAN – A group called Concertación Puertorriqueña Contra la Junta de Control Fiscal Federal began just after 6:30 a.m. a series of protests and demonstrations near the Condado Plaza hotel, where the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce was holding its first conference on the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (Promesa).
Shouting slogans and carrying signs against the establishment of the Financial Oversight & Management Board, which Promesa creates, protesters blocked Ashford Avenue, prompting the intervention of police in the area. Tactical Operations officers were called in and clashed with the about 300 hundred activists on a couple of occasions.
The CofC filed a temporary restraining order against the protestors, of which there were about 300, and who were boasting that none of the gubernatorial candidates invited to the conference was going to assist. By 2 p.m., the conference organizers cancelled the afternoon’s panels as a result of the ordeal, which included at least three vandalized police cars.
The police monitor, along with Puerto Rico Bar Association members, had arrived early at the scene to ensure the civil rights of the protesters were not violated. Social worker Víctor Rodríguez Márquez was arrested along with two others who haven’t been identified were arrested. A few others were injured in scuffles with the police, while some were pepper-sprayed.
