Tegucigalpa/New York/Brasilia - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday warned Honduras' de facto government not to attack the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, where ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has taken refuge. Zelaya, who was deposed in a coup on June 28, secretly returned to Honduras on Monday and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy, where thousands of his supporters gathered Tuesday before being dispersed by police.
"My position is, fatherland, reinstatement (as president) or death," Zelaya told them.
Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd outside the embassy, although Honduras' de facto government said its forces would not storm the building to remove Zelaya.
A curfew remained in place with banks, supermarkets, gas stations, schools, factories and offices closed. Only hospitals and the media were working in full force.
Lula's advisors told reporters that the Brazilian leader spoke to Zelaya over the phone to request from him "great care so as not to allow any pretexts that lead the coup perpetrators to use violence."
Several people, including some police officers, were injured in the clashes, said Security Ministry spokesman Orlin Cerrato.
Demonstrators set fire to a police patrol car and destroyed other vehicles as well as causing damage to several private homes near the embassy, he said. Police were patrolling roads to prevent Zelaya supporters from across the country from travelling to Tegucigalpa.
Cerrato said no one had been arrested. However, another police spokesman said "some" people were being detained. Leftist legislator Marvin Ponce claimed that police had tortured several of the detainees and locked them up in the city's baseball stadium.
Telephone lines inside the embassy had been cut off and food was running scarce, the embassy's charge d'affaires told Brazilian television. The power and water supply, which had been cut off Monday, were working again.
Honduras' de facto government accused Brazil of allowing Zelaya to turn its embassy into his "headquarters," from where he was trying to instigate an "uprising."
Brazil had "shamefully" allowed Zelaya to address a crowd from the embassy, urging Hondurans to break the law by coming to the capital in spite of a curfew being in force, Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister Martha Lorena Alvarado said.
The minister said Honduras would give Brazil a deadline to grant Zelaya political asylum or hand him over for a trial in Honduras.
In a more conciliatory note, however, Rafael Pineda Ponce, chief of staff of the government set up after the military coup, said the de facto authorities would respect the diplomatic mission as foreign territory. No Honduran security force would be authorized to storm the embassy, he said.
In New York for a meeting of the UN General Assembly, Lula told Brazilian media that coup leaders "should give their place to the person who has the right to hold that place, namely the democratically elected president of Honduras."
Zelaya continues to be recognized by the international community as the legitimate Honduran leader. The government set up after the coup is headed by former congress speaker Roberto Micheletti, who was next in line under presidential succession rules when Zelaya was removed by the military for violating the constitution by trying to change the document to allow himself to run for reelection.
Micheletti said the only way Zelaya could legally return to the country would be to surrender and face criminal charges filed against him during his exile. The 18 charges presented by prosecutors include treason and abuse of authority.
Speaking on the television news programme Telenoticias, Micheletti said it would be best for Zelaya to leave the country to avoid violence.
Diplomatic pressure in favour of Zelaya increased, as the Organization of American States met in an emergency session Monday and demanded that he be reinstated as president until his term expires in January. The next presidential election is scheduled for November 29.
In New York, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged immediate negotiations to resolve the impasse without violence.
US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly called on both sides to remain calm and avoid steps that would lead to violence. He also urged the acting Honduran government to adhere to international norms that prohibit authorities from entering the Brazilian embassy.
The US embassy was in contact with the Brazilian embassy to determine if any assistance was needed.
The European Union Tuesday expressed its backing for a "negotiated solution" and urged all parties "to refrain from any action that might increase tension and violence."
