The policeman told me that I cannot kiss my girlfriend in public spaces because it is an immoral act, she published and assured that she kissed his girlfriend inside her vehicle, at which point the policeman touched the glass and asked for their personal identity documents, Marian tweeted.

The couple were taken to the barracks in the San Francisco district, where they stayed for more than an hour, without anyone explaining why. After demanding a response from the police present, who were still in possession of their identification cards, they were informed that they would be prosecuted for 'disrespecting the officer'.

In addition, according to Marian, they were handcuffed and ignored their requests for a female officer to mount them to the vehicle. They stressed that during the whole process they did not give them alcoholic gel or take their temperature.

Marian and Danielle are going to send a letter to the Ombudsman's Office, asking that the case be addressed. They claim that they were fined, but they do not have a copy of the resolution or grounds to apply the said fine.

In a few hours, the published thread received thousands of interactions and the National Police, through its own Twitter account, published a statement in which they announced that an investigation into the events had begun.

Respect for human rights is fundamental in our mission to protect and serve, the institution stated in a statement published after 10 PM.

'A systematic abuse does not end with apologies for Twitter'

The lawyer and activist in human rights and public policies, Mónica Sánchez, said that the problem that was evidenced in this case is not unique to that unit, but to the National Police as an institution. She stated that without formal actions such as resolutions or institutional circulars, situations of discrimination and abuse of this type will continue to occur.

Similarly, Ivan Chanis, lawyer and president of Fundación Iguales, an NGO that watches over the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community, said that this case is an example of a very broad and systematic human rights problem. He added that the discretion to apply the law and detain citizens is worrying.

It is not that there is due or improper process. There is no process in Panama, each one interprets that it is process and that it is justice, said Chanis and with the pandemic a problem of abuse of power has come to the surface that has been cooking for a long time.