Puerto Ricans protest mass govt. layoffs

Thousands of demonstrators swarmed Puerto Rico's financial hub Thursday, blocking highways and setting fires in the streets of the capital to protest massive layoffs of government workers. As a sea of people waved flags and banners, sound trucks blasted chants criticizing Gov. Luis Fortuno, who says the dismissal of more than 20,000 public employees is necessary to close a $3.2 billion deficit and pull the economy out of a three-year recession. "This government wants to take food out of people's mouths," said Hanser Moreno, 54, who owns a restaurant in the college town of Rio Piedras. He carried a homemade sign saying, "The people deserve respect." Labor unions, business owners and others supporting the dismissed workers converged on the Caribbean's largest shopping center, Plaza Las Americas, which closed for the day because of security concerns. In the capital's nearby banking district, hundreds of trucks honked as they rolled slowly past gleaming office towers.