Zelaya's supporters flood streets before his return (News Feature)

By Sandra Parra Jul 4, 2009, 21:40 GMT

Tegucigalpa - Several thousand people took to the streets of Honduran capital Tegucigalpa Saturday to demand the return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

'Zelaya, our friend, the people are with you,' supporters of the country's democratically-elected president chanted in the streets.

Many wore cowboy hats like the one that Zelaya often sports, and they waved the red flags characteristic of the traditional, centre-right Liberal Party to which the president nicknamed 'Mel' belongs - even if he has swung to the left since his inauguration.

The hot Saturday morning sun did not discourage Zelaya's supporters, who came from all over the country to reject the coup that ousted the president a week ago.

Zelaya had been planning to defy a threat by the post-coup government to arrest him and return home on Saturday, but that appeared to have been delayed at least until Sunday.

That's because Zelaya was attending a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington that is considering kicking Honduras out of the regional group. The meeting convened Saturday just hours after the unrecognized post-coup government said it was leaving OAS anyway and would defy the OAS Saturday deadline to reinstate Zelaya.

'Many people from outside the capital have not been able to come to the rallies because there has been a lot of repression, mass circulation has not been allowed and this has prevented many from travelling here to accompany us at the rally,' Deisy Dubon, a demonstrator, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Demonstrators who blocked many streets leading to the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa walked past areas where angry Zelaya supporters had broken shop windows earlier in the week.

Soldiers blocked their final access to the presidential palace where Zelaya was arrested Sunday before being expelled to Costa Rica.

Although demonstrations in Honduras since the coup had the appearance of relative calm, Francis Martinez - one of the organizers of the rallies - told dpa that up to 300 demonstrators had been arrested in recent days.

'The great concern we have is that in this government there are already blacklists, there are prisoners, we have 250-300 prisoners. While demonstrations are taking place peacefully here, in areas like San Pedro de Sula, in the province of Cortes, they have taken place in a wild way,' Martinez said.

Division within the country, which OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza spoke of in his visit to Tegucigalpa Friday, was evident on the streets of the capital.

Slogans like 'Micheletti is a traitor' - with reference to former Congress Speaker Roberto Micheletti, the head of the government set up after the coup, - and 'Out with Pinocheletti and the coup perpetrators' were heard on Saturday.

Demonstrators also spoke against Billy Joya, who has been designated as an advisor to Micheletti's government and who many point to as the man who coordinated torture and murder campaigns in the country in the 1980s.

Pro-government marches were headed to the airport, where they could likely slash with demonstrators aiming to welcome Zelaya back.

Zelaya was ousted on the day of a referendum he had engineered to pave the way for him to change the constitution and run for re- election in November - a move that other leftist leaders in Venezuela and Bolivia have successfully carried out.

But the Honduran military, Supreme Court and Congress stood unanimous in their opposition to the vote, which they said was illegal. They charged Zelaya was making a power grab.

The interim government headed by Micheletti has said they would stick to the November election date.

A number of countries, including all members of the European Union, have withdrawn their ambassadors from Honduras to protest the ouster of a democratically-elected president. The UN General Assembly has also backed Zelaya and denied recognition of Micheletti.