Street protests paralyze Peru

Nationwide protests and a general strike have brought Peru to a near standstill over the last week. Thousands of people in every major town and city took to the streets, and three people are reported to have been killed in clashes around the country. The protests are widely seen as a show of disapproval with the government of President Alan Garcia. In the biggest demonstration since Garcia became Peru's president, there was a national show of discontent with his government. It began as a national strike by the left-wing Peruvian education workers' union. But as construction workers, farmers and miners joined, it grew in size and became more widespread. There have been running battles with the police in the center of Lima, and the authorities have detained more than 100 union leaders. In the southern region of Puno, protesters stormed an airport and a railway station, and three people have been killed in different clashes across the country. On July 13, a tourist train on its way to Machu Picchu was pelted with stones, and in the city of Trujillo striking teachers tried to throw eggs and tomatoes at President Garcia and clashed with his supporters. Several police officers were held hostage by angry demonstrators in the same city but later released. The protesting teachers object to a new law which obliges them to take a proficiency test and says they will be fired if they repeatedly fail it. The test is part of the government's attempt to reform the standard of Peru's state education. But union leaders say it will mean hundreds of arbitrary firings. President Garcia appears to have inflamed the protests by launching insults at union leaders and dismissing them as left-wing radicals.