Thousands of people took to the streets of the Honduran capital on Saturday in anti-government protests against leftist President Xiomara Castro, angered by attempts to engineer what they say is an unconstitutional power grab. In a demonstration sponsored by opposition parties, protesters in the Central American country accused the Castro government of seeking to transform Honduras by hand picking public officials. "We are here in defense of democracy because we do not want a dictatorship in Honduras like those in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, which is what the leftist government of President Xiomara Castro is leading us to," David Chávez, president of the right-wing National Party told reporters on Saturday.