Thousands of angry protesters filled the streets of downtown La Paz yesterday, hurling rocks, waving clubs and demanding for the third day straight the nationalization of the country's oil and gas industry.

Protesters from the nearby city of El Alto marched unopposed to join thousands of indigenous Bolivians, miners and farmers, angry at the government of President Carlos Mesa for - in their eyes - failing to stand up to multinational energy companies.

Some protesters brandished whips to force street vendors and merchants to close business.

Earlier in the day a group of military officers demanded Mesa's resignation. But the military chief of staff quickly distanced the armed forces from the gesture.

Lieutenant Colonel Julio Cesar Galindo, part of a group calling itself the "Generational Military Movement," appeared on private television, demanding that Mesa "leave, simply quit the government, quit the presidency and make room for the government of the people."

The military command rejected the mid-ranking officers saying in a statement it does not "represent the opinion of the services of the armed forces which stand firm in the defence of the rule of law, democracy and the country's institutions."

(China Daily May 27, 2005)