Driver shoots two environmental protesters blocking a road: A driver stuck in a traffic jam gets out of his car and shoots protesters who refuse to move in Panama

This is the shocking moment a driver shot two environmental protesters at point-blank range after becoming angry at a roadblock in Panama.

Horrifying footage showed the gunman, a frustrated elderly man, getting out of his car to argue with eco-protesters who had stopped traffic on the Pan-American Highway in the town of Chame.

At first he tried to reason with the protesters, but moments later he pulled a gun from his pocket and began gesturing wildly as his frustration grew. Despite the imminent danger, the protesters stubbornly refused to abandon their protest and continued to argue back and forth with the irate motorist, who grew visibly angrier with each passing moment.

For a moment it looked like the gunman was ready to retreat, but when a protester with a flag approached him, he raised the gun again and fired at his target, just a few meters away .

Frightened bystanders and other protesters helped bring the victim to the side of the road and lay him on the ground While the gunman calmly began to break down a small barricade of stones and tires erected by the protesters.

Still undeterred, another protester, who was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, tried to confront the shooter and was also shot. The footage shows him recoiling from the shot, clutching his chest in pain and wearing a look of disbelief on his face.

He is seen staggering to the side of the road as other protesters seek cover before falling to the ground.

Shocked friends of the victims rushed to help. Bystanders saw them applying pressure to the wounds to stop the blood loss – but none of the victims survived their injuries.

The police arrived at the scene and immediately arrested the shooter, dragged him away in handcuffs and jammed him into the back of a police car.

Police also released a photo of the detainee – an older man with gray hair and glasses – sitting either in a police station or in a van with one hand tied to a pipe. He was previously seen walking down the street towards the protesters

The man was seen pulling a gun from his pocket in the middle of the street and waving it at the protesters

We see the man gesturing with the gun in his right hand as he argues with the protesters blocking the street

A man, who was seen wearing a black T-shirt with a flag in his hand, got into a heated argument with the man (lfet). The video is about the man holding the flag and falling to the ground

This is the shocking moment one of two environmental protesters blocking a road in Panama was shot dead by an angry driver

The first man shot is treated on the ground

A second man also confronted the gunmen. This photo was taken shortly before he was also shot by the angry driver in Chame, Panama

The tragic incident occurred during the latest round of protests during a three-week protest against a controversial state mining contract in the country, officials said.

Several streets in the capital were blocked by small groups of protesters on Tuesday, while the Pan-American Highway was blocked in several places, hampering the transport of food, fuel and medicine.

The deaths followed local reports that a protester had been run over and killed by a foreigner while trying to cross a roadblock at a protest in the west of the country on November 1.

The deal, finally approved on October 20, allows the local subsidiary of Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals to continue operating an open pit copper mine in a biodiverse jungle west of the capital.

The contract is valid for the next twenty years, with the option to extend for another twenty years if the mine remains productive.

Since the protests began, the government has come close to passing a law that would repeal the treaty, but reversed course during a late-night debate in the National Assembly on November 2.

The man is seen in the middle of the street after he shot two people in the middle of the protest

A man is seen with a gun after walking towards a teacher blockade on the Pan-American Highway in Chame

The man, still holding the gun, tries to clear the blockage on the street

A man is arrested after shooting two protesters in the middle of a teacher blockade on the Pan American Highway in Chame, Panama

The angry driver is placed in the back of a police car after Tuesday’s shooting

People react after seeing a man shoot two protesters with a pistol in the middle of a teachers’ blockade on the Pan American Expressway

A woman attends a vigil for two men killed in a shooting during Tuesday’s protests

To calm tempers, Congress last week passed a law that puts a moratorium on new metals mining contracts and leaves it to the Supreme Court to decide whether or not to allow the contract with First Quantum Minerals.

Environmentalists welcomed the legislature’s decision, saying that the court should actually decide whether the treaty violates the constitution.

But a powerful construction union called Suntracs, teachers unions and other organizations want the contract voided by a law passed by Congress.

Consequently, they continued their protests.