Mass revolts in Paraguay as protestors storm Parliament building

Furious protesters torched Paraguay's parliament building, accusing the country's president of staging a 'coup' over a secret vote allowing him to stand for re-election.
Senators secretly voted for a constitutional amendment allowing President Haracio Cartes to stand for office again.
The move prompted a night of rioting which saw demonstrators storm the Congress building, setting fire to it and injuring a number of police officers.
Several politicians, including the country's former interior minister, Rafael Filizzola, were hit by rubber bullets, the Paraguayan media reports.
In a call for calm, Cartes described the rioters as 'barbarians'.
Journalist Santi Carneri told the BBC that the fire was alight for more than two hours, and described it as a the worst violence since Paraguay became a democracy.
Senator Desiree Masi, from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party, said: 'A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us.'
The country's constitution has prohibited re-election since 1992, when laws were introduced following the overthrow of dictator Alfredo Stroessner in 1989 after a brutal 35 year rule.
Firefighters were eventually able to bring the Congress building fire under control late last night, but protests and riots continued across capital city Asuncion and in other parts of the country.
Television images had earlier shown protesters smashing windows of the Congress and clashing with police, burning tires and removing parts of fences around the building. Police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
Several politicians and journalists were injured, media reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police were hurt. The number of casualties was unknown.
Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement released on Twitter.
'Democracy is not conquered or defended with violence and you can be sure this government will continue to put its best effort into maintaining order in the republic,' he said.
'We must not allow a few barbarians to destroy the peace, tranquility and general wellbeing of the Paraguayan people.'
The rioting broke out as thousands of businessmen and government officials were in the capital for the Inter-American Development Bank's annual board of governors meeting.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was monitoring the events.
'I call on political leaders to avoid inciting violence and seek dialogue,' the commission's regional representative for South America, Amerigo Incalcaterra, said in a statement.
A Congress vote on the law change had been set to be held today, but has been postponed following the rioting.
If approved, it would allow former president Fernando Lugo, who was ousted in 2012, to stand for re-election as well.
He was removed by Congress after politicians ruled he had had failed in his duty to maintain social order following a bloody land eviction.
The rapid impeachment drew strong criticism in Latin America, especially from fellow leftist governments.
A similar re-election proposal had been rejected in August and Congress this week voted to change the rules that required lawmakers to wait a year before voting again.
'Everything was done legally,' said Senator Carlos Filizzola of the leftist Guasu Front coalition, which supports the constitutional amendment as a way of allowing Lugo to return as Paraguay's leader.