Peruvians march to protest Govt corruption

LIMA, Peru - Thousands of Peruvians, many wearing white clothes and gloves to signify their hands are clean, marched on Tuesday to call for an end to public graft in one of the biggest protests of President Alejandro Toledo's unpopular rule.

"We must combat this virus that grows in people's hearts and fills their pockets. It's every Peruvian's obligation," protest organizer Luis Bambaren, a retired bishop, told a crowd at Peru's main court, which critics call the "Palace of Injustice".

Toledo, who has a year to go in office, has been beset by scandals during his four years in power and is accused of faking signatures to register his party for the 2000 elections.

There were no official estimates on the size of the protest, but reporters at the scene said about 4000 people participated in the event, which was peaceful.

Dozens of people wore huge masks of Toledo and ex-President Alberto Fujimori, who the government has been unable to extradite since he fled to Japan at the height of a corruption scandal in 2000.

Fujimori, who makes regular radio broadcasts from Tokyo, denies any wrongdoing and says he plans to run for president in April's elections.

A new Apoyo poll showed that 56 per cent of Lima residents see corruption as the most serious problem in Peruvian politics and say they are tired of the impunity in which politicians operate.

One protester dressed as a clown said: "The justice system clowns around and laughs at Peruvians in their faces." Nineteen of Toledo's relatives are being investigated for corruption, while a former aide is in prison accused of bribing judges. Seven of Toledo's ministers have quit over influence-peddling scandals.

Despite Toledo's pledge to "go to war" on corruption, several of those accused of Fujimori-era graft have been freed for a lack of evidence or because the courts never agreed on a sentence.

Last week, a court lifted the house arrest of Telemundo TV presenter Laura Bozzo - accused of receiving US$3 million from Fujimori's jailed spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos - because judges kept her under arrest for three years without handing down a sentence.

Of the 73 people on trial for corruption in Peru, 50 are under house arrest and Peruvians fear they too will be freed.

- REUTERS