News In Brief

5,000 Hondurans march to protest US troop presence

Some 5,000 Hondurans marched through the streets of Tegucigalpa Saturday calling for the withdrawal of US troops, and of US Ambassador John Negroponte, from Honduras.

The march was called by a coalition of left-wing, labor, student, peasant, and professional organizations ''to show that on the 163rd anniversary of Honduran independence we are less free and that our territory is being trampled upon by foreign troops.''

Honduras has become the center of US military operations in Central America, and there have been three major joint military exercises here in the last year.

In recent months, Hondurans have held several marches to demand the withdrawal of US troops. The largest, on May 1, attracted 100,000 people.