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A30 world news
Diasabra 24 OctOber 2020

Puerto Rico shutters 911 call centers amid coronavirus cases

(AP) — Both of Puerto ber.
Rico’s 911 call centers
were shut down Wednes- “It’s an option that’s being
day night after several em- evaluated,” she said.
ployees tested positive for She also said she didn’t know
the coronavirus, officials why officials decided to close
announced. both 911 centers before en-
suring that such alternatives
Public Safety Secretary Pedro were in place.
Janer said people should call
the island’s emergency man- It is the first time Puerto Rico
agement agency at 787-724- has shut down its primary and
0124 or police at 787-343- secondary 911 call centers.
2020 in an emergency. He Janer said the buildings will
said both agencies are operat- be thoroughly cleaned and
ing 24 hours a day. that he will soon announce
when operations at the 911
However, people calling the call centers will resume.
first number that Janer pro-
vided get a recording asking It was unclear how many em-
them to call 911 for an emer- cy Managers, told The Asso- lay 911 calls through to an- ployees tested positive.
gency. Then the recording ciated Press. He said he was other number, rather than Kiara Hernández, a spokes- Puerto Rico has reported
provided callers with a direc- shocked at the government's forcing people to call a long woman for the Public Safety more than 29,700 confirmed
tory. temporary plan to handle number that they would have Department, said she could cases of coronavirus infec-
emergencies in the U.S. ter- to read or hear about on the not immediately comment tions. It has had more than
“This is serious," Nazario ritory of 3.2 million people. news. on why officials were unable 770 deaths from COVID-19,
Lugo, president of Puerto Ri- “Response times will defi- to automatically route emer- the disease that can be caused
co’s Association of Emergen- Lugo said officials should re- nitely be affected," he said. gency calls to another num- by the virus.

Nigeria says 'many lives have been lost' in days of unrest

(AP) — “Many lives have been liganism," a statement said. Soldiers our dreams to build the future.” The the Lagos state government on Friday
lost” in Nigeria's unrest, the remained in parts of Lagos, Nigeria's group said it had stopped collecting shared a list of ongoing prosecution
president's office announced Fri- largest city, as a 24-hour curfew re- donations for the protests. against police officers accused of hu-
day, as the government said days mained in place. Others disagreed. If the protests have man rights abuses.
of peaceful protests over po- been hijacked by hoodlums, then Ni- “Today seems like a good day to get
lice abuses had been hijacked by A witness of Tuesday night's deadly gerian youth should not give up the on to the work of rebuilding Lagos
thugs. shooting, 33-year-old Isaiah Abor, struggle and instead should “go back and ending police brutality,” Gov.
ventured out anyway to visit the and re-strategize,” said Seriki Muri- Babajide Sanwo-Olu said.
President Muhammadu Buhari's scene where solders had opened fire. tala with the National Youth Parlia-
comments came during a meeting He managed to escape the chaos. ment. An angry crowd shouted at him over
with former heads of state on how to “When (the soldiers) were making the unrest as officials toured burned-
address some of Nigeria's worst un- comments that the flag is not bul- This week’s scenes have touched a out vehicles and the sacked palace of a
rest in years. The government has not letproof, that’s when I knew this was chord with Black Lives Matter sup- Lagos ceremonial leader. The leader,
said how many people died, though going to go out of hand,” Abor said. porters in the United States, while or oba, isn’t popular with some Nige-
Amnesty International says soldiers Empty ammunition shells still lit- the U.S. government has strongly rians who see him as a product of the
killed at least 12 when they fired tered the ground. condemned the “use of excessive country’s often corrupt politics.
without warning into a crowd of pro- The president's speech annoyed him. force by military forces who fired on
testers Tuesday night as they sang the “The blood that stained a whole Ni- unarmed demonstrators in Lagos, Opulence and grinding poverty are in
national anthem. gerian flag, those youths were not causing death and injury.” close contact in Lagos, a city of some
Buhari in a national address Thurs- even mentioned,” Abor said. He The protests turned violent Wednes- 20 million, and the inequality sharp-
day night didn't mention the shoot- added: “We are not cowards. We will day after the military's shooting as ens grievances in Nigeria, Africa’s
ings that sparked international out- always come to this ground, and we mobs vandalized and burned police most populous country.
rage, and resentment lingered with will always feel for those that are stations, courthouses, TV stations and After touring the battered city the
the smell of charred tires Friday in gone.” a hotel. Police battled angry crowds governor told reporters he was “very
Nigeria's relatively calm streets. with tear gas and gunfire. The looting traumatized” and that “we lost people
Another protester, Olatunde Josh- and gunfire continued Thursday. in several parts of the city.” He didn't
The president instead warned pro- ua Oluwanifemi, said simply: “The give details.
testers against being used by “sub- speech killed our spirit.” The demonstrations began early this
versive elements” and “undermining Okechukwu Nwanguma with the month with calls for Nigeria’s gov- “Enough is enough,” he said. “We
national security and law and order.” Rule of Law and Accountability Ad- ernment to shut down the Special need to heal ourselves.” He said the
He reiterated that Friday, saying the vocacy Center said the president's Anti-Robbery Squad, a police unit curfew would begin easing Saturday
government “will not fold its arms comments,“devoid of sympathy,” known as SARS. The squad was morning and a panel looking into the
and allow miscreants and criminals were worrying. Shielding those be- launched to fight crime, but it carried unrest would begin receiving peti-
continue to perpetrate acts of hoo- hind the deadly shootings will only out torture and killings, according to tions on Monday.
lead to abuses by the police and mili- Amnesty International.
tary, he said: “If those who carried out And yet tensions remained high.
the killings did so and nothing hap- The #EndSARS campaign spread Near the scene of Tuesday's shooting,
pens, it will encourage them and oth- across the country and Buhari’s gov- police shouted, then fired into the air,
ers to do the same thing next time.” ernment announced that it would to stop a convoy carrying the body of
disband the SARS unit. The protest a Muslim who had died overnight;
But citing the president’s com- persisted with demonstrators calling the cause of death was not clear.
ments, one influential group behind for more widespread reforms of the
the protests, the Feminist Coalition, police and an end to corruption. After questioning by police, the
urged youth to stay at home, saying mourners were allowed to continue,
that “we need to stay alive to pursue In one attempt at calming tensions, to go on and bury the dead.