Honduran president arrested, sent into exile

Tegucigalpa: More than a dozen soldiers arrested President Manuel Zelaya and disarmed his security guards after surrounding his residence before dawn on Sunday, his private secretary said.

Protesters called it a coup and flocked to the presidential palace as local news media reported that Zelaya was sent into exile.

The chief executive was detained shortly before voting was to begin on a constitutional referendum the president had insisted on holding even though the Supreme Court ruled it illegal and everyone from the military to Congress and members of his own party opposed it.

Zelaya was taken into military custody at his house outside the capital, Tegucigalpa, and whisked away to an air force base on the outskirts of the city, his private secretary, Carlos Enrique Reina said.

Tanks rolled through the streets and army trucks carrying hundreds of soldiers equipped with metal riot shields surrounded the presidential palace in the capital's centre.

About 100 Zelaya supporters, many wearing "Yes," T-shirts for the referendum, blocked the main street outside the gates to the palace, throwing rocks and insults at soldiers and shouting "Traitors! Traitors!"

It was not immediately clear who was running the government.

Soldiers appeared to be in control, but the constitution mandates that the head of Congress is next in line to the presidency, followed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.