Police in San Juan have fired tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters demanding Puerto Rico's governor resign over offensive chat messages.
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Police moved in around 11 pm on Monday night to break up protesters still on the streets of San Juan's old city following day-long demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of residents.
Governor Ricardo Rossello on Sunday said he would not seek re-election next year and would step down as head of the New Progressive Party but the concessions failed to appease demonstrators, who called for him to immediately surrender the governorship.
The island's largest newspaper called on the first-term governor to leave office and reported over 500,000 protesters took to the streets of San Juan.
US President Donald Trump also blasted the 40-year-old governor, who is affiliated with the US Democratic Party.
"He's a terrible governor," Trump said at the White House on Monday, after feuding with Rossello in 2017 over the speed and scale of the federal response to Hurricane Maria.
In San Juan, demonstrators dressed in black T-shirts filled the city's largest highway and marched in the pouring rain with celebrities like Ricky Martin and Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee in the 10th day of sometimes violent protests.
"In Puerto Rico we don't follow dictators. It's time for you to go," a drenched Martin, 47, the target of homophobic messages in Rossello's chats, told cheering crowds.
Despacito singer Daddy Yankee was among protesters who headed to San Juan's old city where they demonstrated in front of police and orange plastic barriers near the governor's official residence, a mansion known as The Fortress.
Rossello on Monday again asked Puerto Ricans to give him another chance.
"I used words that I apologised for but I've also taken significant actions in the direction of helping vulnerable sectors," Rossello told Fox News, explaining he had made policy changes significant to women and the LGBTQ community.
Those two groups were frequent targets of misogynistic and homophobic messages exchanged between Rossello and top aides in 889 pages of online group chats published July 13 by Puerto Rico's Centre for Investigative Journalism.
The crass messages showed a political elite intent on maintaining power on an island where people still live under blue tarpaulins two years after hurricanes ripped roofs off their homes and killed over 3,000 people.
Protests have brought together Puerto Ricans from different political parties, and non-political islanders to vent anger at alleged corruption in the administration and its handling of hurricane recovery efforts.
Demonstrations in San Juan prompted at least two cruise ships to cancel stops in the city on Monday.
The political turmoil comes at a critical stage in the island's bankruptcy as it tries to restructure some $US120 billion in debt and pension obligations.
It has also raised concerns among U.S. lawmakers who are weighing the island's requests for billions of federal dollars for healthcare and work to recover from Hurricane Maria.
Australian Associated Press