Panama is under a state of emergency in the western province of Bocas del Toro. The government is responding to anti-government protests against a pension reform law.Protesters are accused of setting fire to a baseball stadium and looting businesses, including a provincial airport.

The protests, ongoing for two months in the banana-producing region, escalated this week. Clashes with police resulted in one death and approximately 30 injuries, including several officers.

presidential Minister Juan Carlos Orillac stated that suspending constitutional rights and banning public gatherings would allow the government to restore order and “rescue” the province from “radical groups.” He added that the damage to public properties was “unacceptable and did not represent a legitimate protest.”

“In the face of the disruption of order and acts of systematic violence, the state will enforce its constitutional mandate to guarantee peace,” he said.

The state of emergency is slated to last five days.

The protesters, supported by unions and Indigenous groups, are opposing a pension reform law passed in March.

Bocas del Toro has been a focal point of the confrontations, particularly involving workers from a local Chiquita banana plantation. Chiquita, the multinational banana company, characterized the workers’ strike as an “unjustified abandonment of work” and sacked thousands of employees.

The Chiquita workers eventually ended their protests after negotiating the restoration of some benefits that had been cut under the pension reform.

The government reports that roadblocks in Bocas del Toro remain, though they have not been directly attributed to the Chiquita workers.

Violence peaked in Changuinola, the main city in Bocas del Toro, with reports of hooded individuals looting businesses and setting fire to a baseball stadium with police inside. “Vandals took over” the local airport, stole rental cars, and looted a Chiquita office and warehouse. Flights at the airport remain suspended.

Panama’s President Jose raul Mulino has faced multiple protests recently.

Along with the pension reforms,Panamanians are protesting a deal between Mulino and US President Donald trump,allowing US troops to deploy to Panamanian bases along the Panama Canal, following threats from Trump to “take back” the waterway.

mulino has also drawn criticism from environmentalists for considering reopening Cobre Panama, a major copper mine.