Panamanians protest outside US embassy over Trump's canal reclaim threat

Protesters in Panama burned an image of US President-elect Donald Trump following his threat to demand control of the country's interoceanic canal be returned to Washington.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered on Tuesday outside the US embassy as about 20 police officers guarded the compound.

Some in the crowd carried banners reading "Donald Trump, public enemy of Panama."

"The (Panamanian) people have shown that they are capable of recovering their territory and we are not going to give it up again," protester Jorge Guzman told AFP.

The canal, inaugurated in 1914, was built by the United States but handed to Panama on December 31, 1999, under treaties signed some two decades earlier by then-US president Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.

"Panama is a sovereign territory and the canal here is Panamanian," said Saul Mendez, the leader of a construction union that jointly organised the protest.

Trump on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for US ships passing through the Panama Canal and hinted at China's growing influence.

If Panama could not ensure "the secure, efficient and reliable operation" of the channel, "then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question," he said.

The status of the canal is non-negotiable, President Jose Raul Mulino said in a statement on Monday signed alongside former leaders of the Central American country.