Relatives carry a coffin with the remains of Rodrigo Quintana, a member of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, who was killed in an incident at party's headquarters away from congress at the party's headquarters on Friday, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Saturday, April 1, 2017. Clashes erupt between police and protesters outside Paraguay's congress, with demonstrators setting fires around the building after a majority of senators carry out what some was called an irregular vote to allow presidential re-election. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Horacio Cartes fired Paraguay's interior minister and top police official on Saturday following the killing of a young opposition party leader and violent overnight clashes sparked by a secret Senate vote for a constitutional amendment to allow presidential re-election.
Dozens of people, including a police officer, were arrested Friday evening in demonstrations that saw protesters break through police lines and enter the first floor of Paraguay's legislature, setting fire to papers and furniture. Police used water cannon and fired rubber bullets to drive protesters away from the building while firefighters extinguished blazes inside.
In the early hours Saturday, 25-year-old Rodrigo Quintana was shot and killed at the headquarters of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, a different location than the congress building where most of the protests took place. Anti-riot police with rifles and their heads andfaces covered with helmets had stormed the opposition headquarters amid the anti-government protests.
Security camera footage showed people run desperately away from police in a corridor and Quintana falling to the ground, hit from behind. Seconds later, a policeman carrying a gun is seen stepping on Quintana, who is laying face-down to the ground.
Before stepping down, police commander Crispulo Sotelo identified Gustavo Florentin as the police agent responsible for Quintana's death and said he had been arrested. Later Saturday, Cartes announced that he had accepted the resignations of Sotelo and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas.
Because of the violence, Saturday's and Monday's Senate sessions were cancelled. "We will evaluate the situation on Tuesday," said legislative president Hugo Velazquez.