Santo Domingo.- National Police chief Jose Polanco Tuesday night  instructed all south region commanders to take measures to confront the strike announced by the bus owners grouped in FETRAPASUR, affiliated with CONATRA, who say thugs hired by the rival union FENATRANO attacked their vehicles and injured two of its members.

San Cristobal (south) commuters were left stranded early Wednesday as the rival groups stage shootouts and buses of the drivers which tried to ply their route were pelted with stones.

A Police source quoted by elnuevodiario.com.do said the Duarte Precinct riot police were deployed strategic since dawn Wednesday along the 6 de Noviembre and Sanchez highways between San Cristóbal and the capital to confront the confrontations between drivers staged since Friday.

Tuesday afternoon the head of FENATRANO Juan Hubieres denied hiring thugs and instead accused CONATRA’S Antonio Marte, of instructing his men of attacking more than 50 buses, whose windshields were shattered, while others of the routes Palenque, Nigua, Haina and San Cristóbal were stolen and then dismantled.

The showdowns are a continuance of the gangland style rivalries staged between Marte and Hubieres, called the country’s “owners” from the impunity with which they stage violent strikes.