The men threw stones, damaged the doors of the parliament building and set several cars on fire in the parking lot, as the newspaper “Prensa Libre” reported on Tuesday. The police fired tear gas into the crowd. Several attackers were arrested, the Interior Ministry announced.
The ex-soldiers demanded compensation of 120,000 Quetzals (13,300 euros) for their service in the civil war. This was what President Alejandro Giammattei had promised them during the election campaign, the demonstrators said. The passage of a corresponding law in Congress had recently stalled, among other things because the exact number of eligible veterans is unclear.
A civil war raged in Guatemala from 1960 to 1996. Over 200,000 people were killed in clashes between state security forces, left-wing guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries. The armed forces carried out numerous massacres of civilians.