In response to reports that pro-government groups assaulted students and journalists and stole their equipment during a protest against social security reforms in Managua, Nicaragua, on Wednesday, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said:

“These thuggish attacks on people who were demonstrating peacefully and journalists who were covering the protest left at least one person in hospital and several others badly injured. This represents a blatant and disturbing attempt to curtail their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

“The Nicaraguan authorities must guarantee that people are able to freely express themselves without fear of repression. The State must put an immediate end to all acts of aggression against the public and the press and launch a timely, impartial and independent investigation to bring to justice all of those responsible for these sinister attacks.”