La Paz:
Bolivia's main cities were plunged into chaos as a public transport strike triggered by an 83 per cent hike in gasoline prices crippled daily life in the Andean nation.
The military guarded the presidential palace in the capital La Paz, where public transport was almost at a complete standstill. Long lines formed at stores, where shelves were growing emptier by the hour.
Thousands of people threw up barricades across all access roads, burned tires and hurled stones at government buildings to vent their anger in nearby El Alto, a residential area home to the international airport.
Though the city has long boasted of being a main electoral stronghold for President Evo Morales, residents have come out en masse to reject the fuel price increases.
Despite the unrest, Morales tomorrow will travel to Brazil for Dilma Rousseff's swearing in ceremony as Brazil's first female president, Morales' spokesman told AFP.
Faced with widespread complaints after his government announced price hikes that include a 73-per cent rise in the price of diesel, Morales announced a 20-per cent minimum salary increase late Wednesday in hopes of quelling the unrest.
But two powerful unions and civic groups in the land-locked South American nation nonetheless announced strikes and marches in a bid to derail the price increases.
The military guarded the presidential palace in the capital La Paz, where public transport was almost at a complete standstill. Long lines formed at stores, where shelves were growing emptier by the hour.
Thousands of people threw up barricades across all access roads, burned tires and hurled stones at government buildings to vent their anger in nearby El Alto, a residential area home to the international airport.
Though the city has long boasted of being a main electoral stronghold for President Evo Morales, residents have come out en masse to reject the fuel price increases.
Despite the unrest, Morales tomorrow will travel to Brazil for Dilma Rousseff's swearing in ceremony as Brazil's first female president, Morales' spokesman told AFP.
Faced with widespread complaints after his government announced price hikes that include a 73-per cent rise in the price of diesel, Morales announced a 20-per cent minimum salary increase late Wednesday in hopes of quelling the unrest.
But two powerful unions and civic groups in the land-locked South American nation nonetheless announced strikes and marches in a bid to derail the price increases.
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