Thousands attend funerals of demonstrators shot by police

Thousands of people attended the funerals on Sunday, July 18, of two people killed during protests in Bocas del Toro.
Antonio Smith and Virgilio Castillo were killed during violent clashes with police earlier this month while protesting the 9 in 1 law, which in included changes to the country’s labor codes.
Smith and Castillo are the only people that the government says were killed in the riots, but unions say that as many as seven were shot.
After the service at the Cuadrangular Church in Changuinola, the body of Virgilio Castillo was taken to Guabito cemetery by members of his union. Castillo was killed on July 9. The service for Smith, who was killed on July 8, was heldat the Luz del Mundo Church. Aftertwards hundreds of people marched in the streets chanting anti-government slogans.
Banana union leader Genaro Benet said that this was one of the saddest periods for the province.
In Panama City, civil rights activist Mauro Zúñiga said President Ricardo Martinelli must have the courage to dismiss Public Safety Minister José Raul Mulino, Minister of Labor Alma Cortés and Police Chief Gustavo Pérez.