Residents of the poor suburbs of the second largest Honduran city demand the repair of dams destroyed a year ago. | Photo: Twitter: La Prensa HN

San Pedro Sula, June 18 (RHC)-- A group of residents of the Chamelecón sector, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, were violently evicted by National Police officers on Friday in a repressive action that resulted in several injuries.

Villagers and police officers clashed, after the security forces arrived to the place to proceed with the eviction, in an act in which they used tear gas to clear the area, while the villagers defended themselves with stones and sticks.

The residents were protesting for the reconstruction of dikes in their communities, which were affected by the passage of hurricanes Eta and Iota during the summer of last year.

The protest is due to the fact that the rainy season in the country has already started, and in several areas of the Sula valley rivers have already flooded; as a result, communities such as those of El Progreso have been cut off.   Residents fear that rains will be recorded almost every night, since there are no containment dikes, and flooding could be repeated in Chamelecón and other low parts of the Sula Valley.

Since early in the morning, the residents have been stationed on the two lanes of the southern boulevard, blocking the entrance and exit of the city, causing long lines of cars to gather in the area.

Chamelecón has 66 neighborhoods and colonies in which more than 110,000 inhabitants live. Last November, after the passage of storms Eta and Iota, the river destroyed the dams and almost the entire sector was flooded; thousands of residents lost all their belongings.