El Salvador's President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez lays a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 3, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)

 

President Nayib Bukele and a group of soldiers armed with automatic weapons briefly occupied El Salvador's Congress on Sunday, stepping up a pressure campaign to force lawmakers to back a crime-fighting plan.

Watched by soldiers in full battle uniform, Bukele, 38, sat in the seat reserved for the president of Congress and cupped his hands together to pray, he said, for patience with lawmakers, few of whom turned up at the special session.

"If those shameless people don't approve the plan of territorial control, we'll summon you here again [next] Sunday," he told supporters in a fiery speech outside, as he left the building.

Lawmakers were due to meet on Monday to discuss the president's proposals, Congress President Mario Ponce said, in a possible sign of de-escalation.

Bukele won office last year.

He attacked Congress for foot-dragging over approval of a $109 million multi-lateral loan he has sought to equip police and soldiers to fight crime.

His cabinet called Sunday's special session after Bukele said Friday that Salvadorans had a legal right to insurrection in such situations, calling for protests and briefly removing lawmakers' security protection details.

The president's move to pressure lawmakers was backed by Defense Minister René Merino on Monroy and police director Mauricio Arriaza Chicas.

However, El Salvadoran think-tank FUSADES said there were no grounds for the executive branch to call such a session, since Congress was functioning normally.

On Sunday, hundreds of Salvadorans responded to Bukele's call to demonstrate, waving banners and blowing whistles outside Congress, as soldiers and police officers stood by to protect them, a Reuters witness said.

"We are here because of the insecurity we have in our country, and the lawmakers do not want to recognize that," said Adelma Campos, a 43-year-old housewife. 

"They do not want to work for the people who gave them their votes."