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Bolivians Mourn Police Killed in Riots
The Associated Press, Fri 14 Feb 2003 E MailEmail this story to a friend
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LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Thousands of angry Bolivians marched through the capital to mourn nine police killed in two days of rioting, and the country's largest union called for a national strike.

The disturbances began when 7,000 police seeking a 40 percent raise walked off the job to protest a government plans for a new tax to reduce the budget deficit as required by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for new emergency loans.

Clashes between government troops and striking police and protesters left 22 dead — including the police officers — and more than 100 people injured. Protesters left 12 government buildings in flames.

Mourners wept over the flower-strewn coffins of the officers and carried them through a downtown plaza. As officials arrived to show their support, the crowd started shoving them and chanted ``Murderers. Murderers.''

Hours after the funeral for the police, more than 2,000 students, farmers, and labor leaders marched on a La Paz plaza, calling for President Gonzalez Sanchez de Lozada to resign and shouting ``Out with the IMF!''

Government officials said Sanchez de Lozada worked on a new economic plan at his private residence in a leafy La Paz suburb, where he fled to shortly after the riots began.

Presidential spokesman Mauricio Antezana said the president was also considering a possible cabinet shake-up.

But the Central Bolivian Workers Union called for a 48-hour national strike beginning Monday to protest the government's handling of the economy and its response to the striking police officers.

Troops Friday stood guard outside the presidential palace and police watched over shops to avoid renewed looting.

Bolivian human rights groups have called for an investigation into what they say was the government's heavy-handed response to the protests, criticizing the used of live ammunition and tanks to break up demonstrations in La Paz's central plaza.

In the central part of the country, coca growers resumed roadblocks in the coca-growing region of Chapare after overnight clashes with soldiers left more than seven people injured.

Farmers have thrown up road blockades in the area to protest a U.S.-backed coca eradication program.

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