President Nayib Bukele and a group of soldiers armed with automatic weapons briefly occupied El Salvador's Congress on Sunday, stepping up a pressure campaign to force lawmakers to back a crime-fighting plan. Lawmakers were due to meet on Monday to discuss the president's proposals, Congress president Mario Ponce said, in a possible sign of de-escalation. On Sunday, hundreds of Salvadorans responded to Bukele's call to demonstrate, waving banners and blowing whistles outside Congress, as soldiers and police officers stood by to protect them, a Reuters witness said. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, accompanied by members of the armed forces, speaks to his supporters outside Congress in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Sunday. Although the murder rate in El Salvador has declined steeply since Bukele took office, authorities continue to battle gangs that control vast territory in the Central American country.

Source: CBC News February 10, 2020 14:15 UTC