PERU: GENERAL STRIKE PROTEST VIOLENCE

Описание: (15 Nov 2000) Spanish/Nat

Violent clashes erupted between police and protestors when some 2-thousand construction workers took to the streets on the first day of a general strike in the Peruvian capital Lima.

Police used fired tear gas to disperse the protestors when they gathered outside the Government Palace venting their anger on the riot police by beating them with sticks.

The protests come at a time of mounting political crisis within the Fujimori administration brought further into disrepute when authorities disclosed the underground interrogation center run by former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos.

Dramatic scenes of violence hit the streets of Lima on Wednesday when some 2-thousand workers marched in protest of increased working hours, no pay rises and the withdrawal of social security benefits.

The protesters carried an effigy with two heads - Fujimori's and former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos' - inside a cage.

Tear gas canisters flew after some protesters - armed with wooden poles and shouting "There is no president!" - charged at police.

Trade unions leaders pointed to Fujimori and Montesinos as perpetrators of corruption and authoritarianism.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"The people are demanding that Fujimori and Montesinos - a corrupt couple - leave the country."
SUPER CAPTION: Ciro Silva, Trade Union leader

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"We are here as part of the people's struggle for democracy, for work, for the return of a clean state, for respect to human rights. The municipal trade unions demand an immediate solution to our problems."
SUPER CAPTION: Alejandro Hinostroza, General Secretary of Municipal Trade Unions of Peru

Fujimori agreed in September to step down next July following new elections after a corruption scandal erupted around Montesinos.

But pressure is building for Fujimori to step aside sooner as apparent evidence of Montesinos' misdeeds mount.

Authorities disclosed the existence of a soundproof underground interrogation center beneath the defunct headquarters of fugitive former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos.

Rumours abound that the rooms were used as torture chambers.

Reports say an archway leading to the interrogation center had been covered over with bricks in September by army officials who had access to the underground cells from an adjoining military installation.

Montesinos is now under investigation for laundering at least (m) $58 million in foreign bank accounts.

He faces criminal complaints in Peru ranging from directing state-sponsored death squads to skimming profits from narcotics trades during his 10 years as Fujimori's top aide.

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