Honduras imposes curfew to curb post-election unrest

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Honduran government imposed a curfew in efforts to curb violent demonstrations due to a neck-to-neck presidential race, local media reported on Saturday.

The curfew, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., went into effect at 11 p.m. on Friday night and will last for 10 days "to counter the social unrest caused by the general elections held last Sunday (Nov.26)," the daily La Prensa said.

The Central American nation has been rocked by violent demonstrations, vandalism and lootings since the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced that leading opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla trailing incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez by only 1.5 percentage points.

Nasralla has accused the TSE of fraud.

Protests in the city of San Pedro Sula led police to "lob teargas all along the avenue," but lootings continued, La Prensa reported.

With 94.4 percent of the total votes counted, the tally placed Nasralla a hair's width behind Hernandez with 41.4 percent of the votes versus 42.9 percent. Enditem