© Juan Karita
Metro World News
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian teachers clashed again with the police on Wednesday in a new day of protests led by educators who are demanding a larger budget for education from the government.
Public school teachers arrived in a march near the facilities of the Ministry of Education, where the police were guarding. After a struggle, the soldiers used tear gas to clear the protest.
“There is a police officer who was injured,” reported the departmental commander of La Paz, Israel Villca, on Unitel television. In addition, the media reported two detained teachers.
″This is the government’s response; This is the response of the Minister of Education: repress with force because we have come in a peaceful march,” one of the protesters told The Associated Press.
The teachers’ protests began last week in search of more jobs, salary increases and a larger budget for education, but so far they have not been able to reach an agreement with the government of President Luis Arce.
Teachers threaten to radicalize their protests and announce a strike starting Friday at a time when educational work resumes and students return to classrooms in the cities after two years due to the pandemic.