Brazil: Senator shot in strike remains in hospital

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - A Brazilian senator remains under medical care after being shot Wednesday while trying to intervene in a strike by security officials demanding higher salaries.

According to a statement on Twitter early on Thursday, Cid Gomes was taken to the nearby Coracao Hospital to receive initial treatment after being hit by gunfire in Sobral -- a municipality in the northeastern state of Ceara.

Gomes, a member of the opposition Democratic Labor Party, was later temporarily transferred to another hospital in Sobral for a tomography exam, as "no neurological or cardiac changes have been found."

The patient is lucid and breathing without the aid of devices, the hospital said in a statement.

He will remain in Coracao Hospital until being discharged.

Footage of the incident shows Gomes being shot in the chest and abdomen area at the entrance of the military police battalion in Sobral, which was blocked by a group of striking officers. Gunshots brake out as he used a bulldozer to break down the gate to the premises.

The military police strike began Tuesday after lawmakers passed a proposal to restructure their wages.