Panama City, May 22 (AP) A leader of Panama's most powerful union, a driving force for weeks of street protests against social security reforms, climbed an embassy wall and requested political asylum from Bolivia on Wednesday.

Hours later, Panamanian prosecutors announced that arrest orders had been issued in relation to a three-year investigation into the national construction workers union that he led. Prosecutors did not name the targets of the investigation.

Also Read | US Deportations: Boston Judge Says Donald Trump Admin Violated Court Order on Deportations to Third Countries.

Panama's Foreign Relations Ministry confirmed that Saúl Méndez, the union's secretary general, had requested asylum.

Bolivia's business attache in Panama, Carlos Javier Suárez Cornejo, said Méndez was given temporary protection while they evaluated his case.

Also Read | US Shocker: Elderly Woman Shoots Son Over Loud Video Game Noise at Home, Dumps Gun in Canal in Arizona; Arrested.

A day earlier, the government of President José Raúl Mulino announced that the union's legal status had been canceled because it did not have necessary internal controls, among them to prevent money laundering.

Another of the union's leaders, Jaime Caballero, was arrested a week earlier for alleged money laundering.

The union has been a central force in a month of street protests that sometimes blocked major highways. The demands have included scrapping reforms to Panama's social security system and opposition to a security agreement giving U.S. soldiers and contractors access to some facilities in Panama.

Marches continued Wednesday, but roadblocks that had snarled traffic were gone.

Mulino has said the reforms were necessary to keep the social security system solvent and denied that the agreement with the United States infringes on Panama's sovereignty. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)