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07/14/2004:

"Thousands Join Peru General Strike"

It's good to see the democratic impulse alive and well somewhere in the Western Hemisphere.
Reuters/NY Times
LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Thousands of Peruvians, some burning effigies of President Alejandro Toledo, took to the streets nationwide on Wednesday to tell his unpopular government bluntly: change your policies or go.

Peru's first general strike since 1999 began with scuffles between protesters and the police in the capital, Lima, and 52 people were arrested across the country, officials said. At least six were injured, including two babies, radios reported.

Fearing a repeat of a day of arson and looting in the southern city of Ayacucho earlier this month in protests the government said were hijacked by the Shining Path terror group, 93,000 police were on alert and 600 troops helped guard installations such as electricity plants and hospitals.

The main square, where the government palace is located, was cordoned off with metal barriers for the one-day action.

Demonstrators blocked roads in a poor district on the edge of Lima and Aymara Indians did the same near the southern border with Bolivia, where a mob lynched a mayor accused of corruption in April.

``The demand for Toledo to go is massive. This demonstration is a rejection of the government's economic policies and the whole privatization process,'' said Julio Lopez, a 28-year-old student in the southern city of Arequipa.full article