Home > Peru hit by major workers’ strike
More than 50 arrests have been made in Peru as thousands of people rallied across the country against President Alejandro Toledo’s economic policies.
Police in the capital, Lima, used tear-gas to disperse protesters who tried to block roads with tyres and logs.
The 24-hour strike was called by Peru’s biggest workers union, which demands higher wages and an end to the government’s free-market policies.
Some 93,000 police were deployed across Peru to deal with any unrest.
Peruvian Interior Minister Javier Reategui said the impact of the strike appeared limited as many transport services were still running in the capital.
But the president of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru - which organised the rallies - said the stoppage had been successful.
The BBC’s Hannah Hennessy in Lima reports that for many the protest has become less about economics and more about trying to undermine the authority of Mr Toledo - the region’s least popular president.
More than half of Peru’s population lives below the poverty line and they are angry at the president to fulfil his election promises to create more jobs and stamp out poverty, our correspondent adds.
The strike comes as Peru tries to cope with hundreds of visitors to an international football event - the Copa America - stranded by the grounding of a local airline.
The Aero Continente airline was banned from flying on Monday after the government alleged its planes were not insured and the US announced it was investigating the firm for ties to the drug trafficking trade.
’Infiltration fears’
More than 150 unions - from teachers to construction workers - had signed up for the protest.
The communist-led General Workers Union of Peru (CGTP) estimated that some 300,000 people would take part in protests.
"More than 85% of the population is demanding Toledo to go... the voice of the people is the word of God," CGTP president Mario Huaman told reporters.
But that figure seems to have been an overestimate, our correspondent says.
Mr Reategui said police had confiscated a large number of rubber tyres to stop protesters from setting fire to them.
He claimed only half of all transport services in Lima had been affected by the strike so far.
But Peru’s government says army and riot police units have been enlisted because of fears that the demonstrations might be infiltrated by guerrillas from the outlawed Marxist rebel army, the Shining Path.
Mr Toledo - a one-time shoeshine boy - came to power in 2001, pledging to eradicate the poverty and better jobs.
Since then, his approval have plummeted as he failed to implement his ambitious promises.