Bolivia: French embassy attacked after Morales is "hi-jacked by imperialism"

Bolivia: French embassy attacked after Morales is "hi-jacked by imperialism"

Around 100 Bolivians threw rocks and burned French flags in front of the French Embassy in La Paz on Wednesday. Protesters were incensed after President Evo Morales' plane was denied entry to air space over several EU countries.

France was among several of the EU countries to initially deny the President's plane access over their land, due to suspicions that Morales' plane harboured former NSA contractor and celebrated intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. President Morales was forced to land in Vienna and held there for twelve hours while Austrian authorities inspected his plane. After a search failed to find whistleblower Snowden aboard, the President's plane took off from Austria and headed to the Canary Islands to refuel and finally head towards its final destination, La Paz.

Protesters in front of the French embassy angrily yelled slogans like "France, racist, get out of Bolivia" and "Hypocrite France, Colonist France". The Bolivian ambassador to Russia made a public statement earlier saying that "The countries involved in hijacking President Morales' plane are making a mistake." The Vice President of Bolivia Alvaro Garcia said that Morales' plane was "hijacked by imperialism", with a majority of other Latin American countries also making public statements of disapproval.