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SANTA CRUZ: Police and anti-government protesters clashed on Saturday in the Santa Cruz area of eastern Bolivia, as authorities attempted to clear a road blocked by rural workers demanding President Rodrigo Paz’s resignation.
A month of demonstrations calling for the center-right Paz to step down have paralyzed the Andean nation, with some 100 protest blockades around the country causing severe food and medicine shortages in major cities.
On Saturday, dozens of anti-riot police backed by military vehicles fired tear gas as they attempted to clear a road in the town of San Julian.
The town is in the Santa Cruz region — an agricultural breadbasket for Bolivia, supplying food to the country’s western areas.
