Police sergeant hurt as central town strike shuts barrios

Bonao, Dominican Republic.- The strike called by several community organizations has partly shuttered the city’s downtown today, as most businesses opened their doors, but shops were closed in the neighborhoods.

The protest was called ??against the tax reform, an end to the blackouts, repairs for streets in barrios and to demand the opening of the businesses in the town’s free zone.

Classes were suspended but traffic was near normal, as riot police and Swat agents were brought from Santiago to patrol the city Tuesday night.

Police and demonstrators clashed last night in the sector Los Transformadores, where trash and barricades blocked streets, while Police sergeant Miguel Andres Mercedes was injured by buckshot and hospitalized.

In addition to opposing the tax reform, the various grassroots organizations called the strike which began 6am to protest the rolling blackouts and to demand the construction of streets in several outlying communities.