The Honduran coup regime has been forced to reverse a harsh crackdown on civil liberties amidst growing protests for the restoration of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya. On Monday, coup leaders said they would lift a decree banning unauthorized public meetings, allowing the government to shut down broadcasters and granting police the authority to make arrests without warrants. The reversal came after coup supporters in the Honduran congress voiced opposition. Hours before the reversal was announced, police blocked a march of several hundred Zelaya supporters in the capital Tegucigalpa. The military also shut down two media outlets that have criticized the coup regime. Carlos Lopez of Radio Globo described the military raid.

Carlos Lopez: “When I got here, it was already totally controlled by the military. My colleagues got here and said they had a radio program here during the afternoon, as well. [The soldiers] confiscated everything — cameras, they took the keys to their vehicles. One of their workmates ran out because he was scared, and they went after him.”

Zelaya has remained in the Brazilian embassy since defiantly returning to Honduras last week. Zelaya was able to address the UN General Assembly Monday when his foreign minister, Patricia Rodas, held up her cell phone with Zelaya on the line.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya: “My greetings to the United Nations. Anybody who had any doubt that a dictatorship is taking hold of my country, now with what has happened in the last ninety-three days of repression, I think that any of those doubts that might have subsisted are dispelled. But besides being subject to a coup d’état, Honduras is being subjected to a fascist rule, which is suppressing the rights of its citizens and which is oppressing the Honduran people.”