Salvadorans stage protest against Bukele's state of emergency

San Salvador: Protesters gathered in El Salvador's capital Sunday to demonstrate against President Nayib Bukele's controversial state of emergency, which allows law enforcement to arrest people without a warrant.

The policy, which was declared in 2022 as part of Bukele's anti-gang crackdown, has led to more than 90,000 people being detained in the small Central American country.

Only around 8,000 have been released after being found not guilty, according to official sources.

The state of emergency has caused crime to plummet to record lows in El Salvador, but critics decry arbitrary arrests and torture in custody as human rights violations.

"We are demanding an end to the state of emergency, and we also demand the right to constitutional guarantees," Sonia Urrutia, an activist group spokeswoman, told AFP.

Several activist groups participated in the march, including the Movement of Victims of the Regime (MOVIR), which has called for the courts to declare the state of emergency as unconstitutional.

According to rights group Socorro Juridico Humanitario, 470 Salvadorans have died in prisons since Bukele's crackdown began.

The protest through the streets of downtown San Salvador was held in part to commemorate the signing of the peace agreements in January 1992 that ended the country's decades-long civil war.d