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| Hundreds of miners and their families blocked off roads by scattering stones on the tarmac |
Road access
to Bolivia's main city, La Paz, has been blocked off by miners demanding that
the government hand over part of a tin and zinc mine.
Hundreds of
miners belonging to a private co-operative blocked the three main highways
leading into La Paz.
The
Colquiri mine, which used to belong to Swiss company Glencore, was expropriated
by the government in June.
Various
mining groups have been arguing over who should run it ever since.
Police say
they seized dynamite from the opposing groups, which they feared were heading
for a clash.
Officials
said the miners had cut off the road leading from La Paz to Chile, as well as
those leading to Peru and the northern Yungas region.
'Irreconcilable
enemies'
A spokesman
for the protesters, Simon Condori, said they would "stay at the three
blockades until a positive result for the (private) co-operative is
reached".
The group
says the government agreed to hand over the richest vein in the Colquiri mine.
A rival
group employed by the state-run Bolivian Mining Corporation (Comibol) wants the
government to run the whole of the mine and to ban other groups from mining it.
A union
leader for the Comibol group, Severino Estallani, said 5,000 of its members
were heading for La Paz to make their demands heard.
The
opposing groups crossed paths during their marches in La Paz on Tuesday and
traded insults.
Interior
Minister Carlos Romero called on both groups to keep their demonstrations peaceful.
"Both
have to accept that they have to work together, they can't deny each other's
rights and exclude each other as if they were irreconcilable enemies," Mr
Romero said.
He called
on the groups to enter into negotiations with the government.
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