Man on way to birth of baby jailed by police in sweep of bystanders

On the heels of a UN report condemning police violence against Panamanian indigenous communities, comes an Ombudsman report of arrests of innocent citizens in Panama city.

The Ombudsman, Ricardo Vargas, reported that more than 60 people who had nothing to do with rioting by members of the Constuction and Allied Workers Union (SUNTRACS) last week were swept up in the police net and jailed.
Vargas said that the arrested people were merely "passing through the area." 

Telemetro reported that the Ombudsman received phone calls and letters from companies reporting the holding of such people
Vargas instanced the case of a man who went to St. Thomas hospital to visit his wife who was giving birth and was rounded .up
"They were deprived of their liberty in an illegitimate way," said the Ombudsman.

Vargas said the hostages were in a state of helplessness because they could not call their families and not have the assistance of a lawyer, a complaint already voiced by the leader of SUNTRACS .
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