LA PAZ, Bolivia - Thousands of protesters angered by what they see as a sell-out of Bolivia's natural gas reserves have taken to the streets of the capital La Paz, detonating small charges of dynamite and smashing store windows with whips.
President Carlos Mesa accused protest leaders of organising a coup with their calls to shut down Congress.
Police armed with tear gas and clubs kept the mostly indigenous demonstrators a block away from Congress and the presidential palace.
"There is no democracy without Parliament. The closure of Congress is a coup d'etat," Mesa said in a speech to members of a military regiment.
Monday's angry protests may just be a warm-up for Tuesday, when Congress plans to reconvene for the first time after approving a highly unpopular law governing Bolivia's natural gas reserves.
Protesters say the law does not provide the state control needed to protect Bolivia's most precious resource -- the second largest natural gas reserves in Latin America.
Mesa refused to sign the law because he felt it was too punitive for foreign companies that have invested US$3.5 ($5) billion in Bolivia's gas fields since 1997.
The president, who has lurched from crisis to crisis in his 19 months in government, said he will stay until the last day of his mandate in August 2007 despite calls for his resignation from indigenous groups who feel exploited by Bolivia's European-descended elites.
- REUTERS
Bolivia leader defiant as protests build
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