Shoes from the wounded marked the trail to the makeshift shrine at Honduras international airport, where flowers and an icon of Jesus lay in a pool of blood.

“The soldiers are terrorists” declared a note there. “Murderers!” screamed the protesters massed behind the torn metal fence surrounding the airstrip. Minutes earlier, soldiers had stepped through the fence and sprayed gunfire into the crowd, killing a teenager and wounding at least 30 people.

The demonstrators had massed at the airport to await the arrival of the ousted President, Manuel Zelaya, on Sunday afternoon. He had urged them to greet him as he attempted to return to Honduras after being forced to flee a week earlier. Those behind the coup said that Mr Zelaya had been trying illegally to amend the Constitution to allow him to run for re-election — a charge he denies. The interim government had warned that it would not let Mr Zelaya land, but about ten thousand supporters surged through the capital anyway. They were halted by police and soldiers along the way but, one by one, the army lines pulled back as protest organisers negotiated their advance. It was a peaceful demonstration, the frustrations kept in check by a carnival atmosphere, with music and ice-cream sellers weaving through the crowd.

A rumour had spread that the military were prepared to fire on protesters, but nobody believed it.

“They’re just trying to intimidate us,” one organiser urged through a loudspeaker. The mood remained calm as the crowds reached the airport, where soldiers and military vehicles blocked the runway. A few demonstrators began to tear at the metal fence separating them from the airstrip, but others pulled them back and no attempt was made to enter.

Then several soldiers walked through and began firing indiscriminately. Isis Murillo, 19, was killed; around him, protesters began running, or dropping as they were hit.

“It was chaos, we didn’t know what was happening,” said Dariela Pineda, 29. Standing by the shrine amid trails of blood, she pleaded with The Times to “tell the world what is happening to us. We need help, we need international intervention.”

At about 5.20pm, the protesters stopped to cheer as Mr Zelaya’s aircraft circled low overhead, but as military reinforcements grouped on the runway it was forced to abort its landing, instead flying to neighbouring Nicaragua and then to El Salvador.

There, flanked by a host of Latin American leaders, including Cristina Kirchner of Argentina and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Mr Zelaya implored his country’s military to “stop repressing the Honduran people”.

Few heard his call, however, with the TV signal cut as the interim government tightened a media blackout. None of the Honduran news channels — all of them supportive of the coup — reported the events at the airport or Mr Zelaya’s attempted landing. Instead, they gave over the airwaves to the new “President”, Roberto Micheletti, speaking from the presidential palace. He insisted that his government “did not want one drop of blood spilled”.

Across the border, Mr Zelaya discussed his next move with regional leaders and heads of international organisations, all of whom have roundly condemned the coup. But despite its isolation, the new government shows no signs of relenting. “We are the authentic representatives of the people,” Mr Micheletti said.

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