200 detained in Peru strike, regional office set ablaze
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 07:42:00 07/10/2008
Filed Under: Unrest, Conflicts & War
LIMA -- Peruvian authorities arrested 200 people and protesters set fire to a regional government office on Wednesday during a 24-hour national strike against President Alan Garcia's economic policies.
Thousands of protesters marched across the country, with some scuffles with police, in a strike organized by the left-leaning CGTP workers' union, which called the work stoppage "successful on the national level."
The government said the strike failed to meet the union's expectations, but Garcia acknowledged that there is "dissatisfaction in a large section of the Peruvian society."
"I salute those who protested peacefully and those who worked taking their protest in their minds," he said.
Protesters ransacked and set fire to the headquarters of the regional government of Madre de Dios, an Amazon region in Peru's southeast, and attacked its staff, officials said.
Demonstrators also tried to block roads in several parts of southern Peru, which has the poorest regions in the country, while the army was deployed to protect airports as well as water and power plants.
"At least 200 people were detained nationally for trying to conduct illegal acts," Interior Minister Luis Alva Castro said.
The strike was called to protest Garcia's economic policies and the rising cost of living.
CGTP secretary general Mario Huaman said workers want the government to raise wages to make up for "the incessant rise of the cost of living" and "change the neo-liberal economic policy that hurts the interests of the impoverished."
Peru's economy is thriving with unprecedented 10-percent growth thanks to a healthy mining sector, but the country's Andes mountain and jungle regions feel left out while Lima and coastal areas are benefiting from the boost.
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