Political violence broke out at a Roman Catholic church in the Nicaraguan city of Masaya on Thursday as government sympathizers attacked parishioners with clubs, machetes and metal bars.
The attack came after it became known that San Juan Bautista parish priest Harving Padilla planned to lead a procession to another church a few blocks away in solidarity with that church’s priest and a dozen people who are on hunger strike there to demand the release of loved ones they say are political prisoners.
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Political violence broke out at a Roman Catholic church in the Nicaraguan city of Masaya on Thursday as government sympathizers attacked parishioners with clubs, machetes and metal bars.
“They came with pipes and machetes, they beat the altar boys and a woman and they had us surrounded in here,” Padilla said.
Last week the hunger strike began at the San Miguel Arcangel church by family members of government opponents detained after protesting against Ortega.
The government of Ortega and Rosario Murillo, his vice president and first lady, have accused a number of bishops and priests of supporting the political opposition.
The strikers asked for a presence by the International Committee of the Red Cross, but ICRC spokesman for Mexico and Central America Alberto Cabezas said that the organization as a rule does not intervene in negotiations related to hunger strikes.
Padilla said the crowd surrounded his church while Mass was being celebrated inside and tried to break through the doors, and priests and parishioners blocked the entrances with pews.
A man secures one of the doors of the San Juan Bautista Church after supporters of President Daniel Ortega attempted to enter the church by force, in Masaya, Nicaragua, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. The pro-Ortega group disrupted a mass in support of a group of mothers who are engaged in a hunger strike at the San Miguel Church in Masaya, to demand the release of their sons and daughters who are imprisoned by the Ortega government. (AP PhotoAlfredo Zuniga)
“They came with pipes and machetes, they beat the altar boys and a woman and they had us surrounded in here,” Padilla said.
A 50-year-old man who tried to keep the attackers out was beaten by several people who then handed him over to police, who had stood guard during the disturbance with the support of anti-riot forces but did not intervene.
Nicaragua has been on edge since protests erupted in spring 2018 demanding President Daniel Ortega leave office and allow early elections. Ortega officials consider such demands tantamount to an attempted coup by people they label “terrorists.”
Altar boys and parishioners barricade one of the entrances of the San Juan Bautista Church after supporters of President Daniel Ortega attempted to enter the church by force, in Masaya, Nicaragua, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. The pro-Ortega group disrupted a mass in support of a group of mothers who are engaged in a hunger strike at the San Miguel Church in Masaya, to demand the release of their sons and daughters who are imprisoned by the Ortega government. (AP PhotoAlfredo Zuniga)
Last week the hunger strike began at the San Miguel Arcangel church by family members of government opponents detained after protesting against Ortega.
That same day more than a dozen activists were arrested as they tried to deliver water to the demonstrators. They were later charged with alleged illegal transportation of weapons.
This week government-allied forces tried to break into the San Miguel church, while others caused disturbances inside the cathedral of Managua, the capital, forcing another group of women to suspend a separate hunger strike they planned to stage there.
Father Harvey Padilla exposes the consecrated host to one of the barricaded doors of the San Juan Bautista Church after supporters of President Daniel Ortega attempted to enter the church by force, in Masaya, Nicaragua, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. The pro-Ortega group disrupted a mass in support of a group of mothers who are engaged in a hunger strike at the San Miguel Church in Masaya, to demand the release of their sons and daughters who are imprisoned by the Ortega government. Father Padilla and his parishioners are now barricaded in the church and surrounded by the police and pro-Ortega militants. (AP PhotoAlfredo Zuniga)
The government of Ortega and Rosario Murillo, his vice president and first lady, have accused a number of bishops and priests of supporting the political opposition.
Nicaraguan media said the health of at least three hunger strikers at the San Miguel church has deteriorated.
Water and electrical service to the building has been cut off for days, and it has been surrounded by police.
A man is detained by undercover police, from the San Juan Bautista Church, after he helped to push out supporters of President Daniel Ortega when they attempted to enter the church by force, in Masaya, Nicaragua, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. The pro-Ortega group disrupted a mass in support of a group of mothers who are engaged in a hunger strike at the San Miguel Church in Masaya, to demand the release of their sons and daughters who are imprisoned by the Ortega government. (AP PhotoAlfredo Zuniga)
The strikers asked for a presence by the International Committee of the Red Cross, but ICRC spokesman for Mexico and Central America Alberto Cabezas said that the organization as a rule does not intervene in negotiations related to hunger strikes.
Cabezas said the ICRC “urges support for reaching solutions in which no lives are lost.”
The U.S. State Department expressed concern over the protesters’ health and safety and called the police cordon unacceptable.
Altar boys and parishioners barricade one of the entrances of the San Juan Bautista Church after supporters of President Daniel Ortega attempted to enter the church by force, in Masaya, Nicaragua, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. The pro-Ortega group disrupted a mass in support of a group of mothers who are engaged in a hunger strike at the San Miguel Church in Masaya, to demand the release of their sons and daughters who are imprisoned by the Ortega government. (AP PhotoAlfredo Zuniga)
At least 328 people died in a crackdown on last year’s protests by security forces and armed pro-government militias, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Some 2,000 were wounded, and tens of thousands fled to exile.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Germany on Tuesday strongly rejected a case brought by Nicaragua at the United Nations' top court accusing Berlin of facilitating breaches of the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law by providing arms and other support to Israel in its deadly assault on Gaza.
"The minute we look closely, Nicaragua’s accusations fall apart,” Christian Tams, a member of Germany's legal team, told the 16-judge panel at the International Court of Justice.
On Monday, Nicaragua urged judges to order a halt to German military aid to Israel, arguing that Berlin’s support enables acts of genocide and breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza.
The head of Germany's legal team, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, said Nicaragua's claims "have no basis in fact or law. They are dependent on an assessment of conduct by Israel, not a party to these proceedings.”
Preliminary hearings held Monday and Tuesday are focused solely on Nicaragua’s request for so-called provisional measures, including a court order for Berlin to halt military and other aid to Israel and reinstate funding to the U.N. aid agency in Gaza.
Closing Germany's arguments, Von Uslar-Gleichen urged judges not to impose preliminary measures and to toss out Nicaragua’s case.
Tams said that Germany had licensed only four exports of weapons of war to Israel since October, “three of which concern test or practice equipment.” He said 98% of military exports to Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks were not weapons of war, but other equipment.
Showing judges a photo of German aid being airdropped over Gaza, Tams added that Berlin continues to provide humanitarian support to Palestinians “every single day under extremely difficult conditions, constructively engaging with international partners.”
Nicaragua's case is the latest legal attempt to rein in Israel's offensive by a country with historic ties to the Palestinian people, after South Africa accused Israel of genocide at the same court late last year. It also comes against a backdrop of growing calls for Israel’s allies to stop supplying the country with weapons — and as some supporters, including Germany, have grown more critical of the war.
Speaking in Berlin, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters that “from day one after Oct. 7, Germany has faced up to the incredible dilemma that Hamas deliberately entrenched itself behind civilians, deliberately used the human suffering of Palestinians and Palestinians in Gaza to expand its attack on Israel.”
Echoing comments by the German lawyers in court, Baerbock added that Germany is committed to international law, including the right to self-defense.
“This means that Israel has the right to defend itself, like every country in the world, against these terrorist attacks that continue to be carried out with the aim of destroying Israel as a state,” she said.
At Monday's hearings, Nicaragua’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Carlos José Argüello Gómez, accused Germany of “failing to honor its own obligation to prevent genocide or to ensure respect of international humanitarian law.”
However, another lawyer for Germany, Samuel Wordsworth, argued that the court could not rule Germany was violating the obligation to prevent genocide because its judges have not ruled that Israel is breaching the Genocide Convention.
In a preliminary phase of the case brought late last year by South Africa, the U.N. court has said that it is “plausible” that Israel's actions in Gaza could amount to breaches of the convention.
“How can it be said that there was a failure to ensure respect of a third state, if the failure on the part of that third state to respect is not established in the first place?” Wordsworth said.
The court will likely take weeks to deliver its preliminary decision, and Nicaragua’s case will probably drag on for years.
Israel strongly denies that its assault amounts to genocidal acts, saying it is acting in self defense after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people.
Since then, more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its toll doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it has said women and children make up the majority of the dead.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany is second only to the U.S. in supplying arms to Israel — but it would be harder, if not impossible, for the U.S. to be brought before the court because Washington does not recognize the ICJ’s power to compel countries to appear before it. The U.S. also has not signed a protocol to the Genocide Convention that allows countries to bring disputes to the court.
Associated Press writer Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.
Judge Nawaf Salam, center, speaks at the start of a two days hearing at the World Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 8, 2024, in a case brought by Nicaragua accusing Germany of breaching the genocide convention by providing arms and support to Israel. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Judge Nawaf Salam, third right, speaks at the start of a two days hearing at the World Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 8, 2024, in a case brought by Nicaragua accusing Germany of breaching the genocide convention by providing arms and support to Israel. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Nicaragua's Ambassador Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, right, and Alain Pellet, center, a lawyer representing Nicaragua, arrive for the start of a two days hearing at the World Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 8, 2024, in a case brought by Nicaragua accusing Germany of breaching the genocide convention by providing arms and support to Israel. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, Germany's legal adviser and Director-General for Legal Affairs of the German Foreign Ministry, center, shakes hands with Alain Pellet, left, a lawyer representing Nicaragua, prior to the start of a two days hearing at the World Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 8, 2024, in a case brought by Nicaragua accusing Germany of breaching the genocide convention by providing arms and support to Israel. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
A pro-Palestinian activist works on a protest poster near the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 8, 2024, prior to the start of a two days hearing in a case brought by Nicaragua accusing Germany of breaching the genocide convention by providing arms and support to Israel. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
A pro-Palestinian activist works on a protest poster near the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, April 8, 2024, prior to the start of a two days hearing in a case brought by Nicaragua accusing Germany of breaching the genocide convention by providing arms and support to Israel. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
