Managua, Apr 25 (AFP) The death toll from a week of brutally repressed anti-government protests in Nicaragua has risen to at least 34, a leading rights group in the country said today.

The count, by the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), was a hike from its previous figure of 27.

The group said it had found more bodies in Managua's state morgue of people previously reported missing, and had also added people who had died of wounds sustained in the protests.

President Daniel Ortega's government put out its own toll on Friday, counting 10 deaths. It has not released any updated figure since.

The protests were triggered by pension reforms that Ortega ended up withdrawing as condemnation of harsh police tactics against the demonstrators -- including firing weapons -- mounted.

Other grievances over the president's rule for the past 11 years then surfaced, notably resentment at the aloof and authoritarian style of Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, who is also his vice president.

By early today, it appeared the protests were subsiding after Ortega made a series of concessions, including freeing arrested protesters, lifting curbs on independent media and calling for dialogue. (AFP) ZH

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