More than 1,000 demonstrators chanting anti-FBI slogans and carrying Puerto Rican flags marched through the capital of this U.S. island territory on Sunday. Demonstrators chanted "Respect Puerto Rico!" and "FBI get out!"
Many of the marchers favor independence for the island and accuse the FBI of persecuting the movement. They also accuse the FBI of letting Filiberto Ojeda Rios — the fugitive leader of a pro-independence militant group — bleed to death during an FBI raid in September.
Federal agents have said they shot Ojeda Rios after he fired on them, but his widow said the FBI fired first. Ojeda Rios was wanted for the 1983 robbery of a Wells Fargo armored truck depot. Marchers Sunday later accused an onlooker of being a federal agent. Confronting the man, demonstrators began shouting "murderer, murderer." After several minutes the man fled in an automobile and protesters banged on the car windows, cracking the glass, witnesses said. Many of the marchers said the man had been taking photographs of the demonstration. Several witnesses said the man had been carrying a firearm.
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