<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>The first 2,000 suspected gang members in El Salvador have been moved to a huge new prison, the centrepiece of President Nayib Bukele's self-declared war on crime.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Tens of thousands of suspected gangsters have been rounded up in the country under a state of emergency following a spike in murders and other violent crime.</div><div><br></div><div>The jail will eventually hold more than 40,000 people.</div><div><br></div><div>Pictures show the first massive group of inmates - tattooed and barefoot - being led led to the facility.</div><div><br></div><div>The prisoners are left sitting on the floor with their hands behind their shaven heads, stacked closely together, before being taken to their cells.</div><div><br></div><div>President Bukele tweeted that the first 2,000 people were transferred "at dawn, in a single operation" to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism, which he says is the largest jail in the Americas.</div><div><br></div><div>"This will be their new house, where they will live for decades, all mixed, unable to do any further harm to the population."</div><div><br></div><div>The mega-prison - in Tecoluca, 74 kilometers (46 miles) southeast of the capital San Salvador- comprises eight buildings. Each has 32 cells of about 100 square meters (1,075 square feet) to hold "more than 100" prisoners, the government says.</div><div><br></div><div>The cells only have two sinks and two toilets each.</div><div>President Bukele declared a "war on gangs" last March, passing emergency measures which have been extended several times.</div><div><br></div><div>The emergency measures have been controversial as they limit some constitutional rights, such as allowing the security forces to arrest suspects without a warrant.</div><div><br></div><div>More than 64,000 suspects have been arrested in the anti-crime drive.</div><div><br></div><div>Human rights organisations have argued that innocent people have been caught up in the policy, but Bukele's anti-gang push remains popular with Salvadorans. Source: BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>