SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Public transport in El Salvador has been severely disrupted by a strike enforced by street gangs angry about a new law making gang membership a crime.
Gangs told bus companies around the country to shut down service or face the consequences, the BBC reported Friday. Observers in San Salvador say most bus companies across the country appear to have given in to the gangs' threats, disrupting services for the third consecutive day.
The anti-gang law was introduced in July after gang members set fire to a bus, killing 17 people.
Police and soldiers have been escorting vehicles carrying passengers and the army has been using military trucks to help people get to work.
The street gangs, known as Maras, ordered the shutdown to pressure President Mauricio Funes not to sign the new law.
The law, approved by El Salvador's parliament, makes the Mara 18 and Salvatrucha gangs proscribed organizations and describes them as "social extermination groups".
UPI
