14 killed in Bolivian riots
At least 14 people were killed in the Bolivian capital La Paz overnight as anti-government tax protests turned into riots.
The violence began when 7,000 striking police officers and civilian protesters clashed with government troops over a proposal by the Bolivian president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, to raise taxes on the poor.
Rioters set seven buildings on fire, and troops used rubber bullets and tear gas in response. The fighting subsided after five hours, but sporadic gunfire continued through the night.
Officials said that 14 people had been killed, with at least 100 others injured.
Mr Sanchez de Lozada escaped from the besieged presidential palace in an ambulance. He later gave a televised speech, in which he suspended the tax increase and ordered the withdrawal of government troops.
"I plead with all Bolivians to put an end to the violence and begin honest negotiations," he said. "I ask one more thing from our father above: God save Bolivia."
But with no police force, the president's call for peace had little effect as the city descended into chaos.
Police officers dressed in green fatigues seized the foreign ministry, firing tear gas in support of demonstrators who laid siege to the presidential palace.
A steady stream of ambulances sped through the city, carrying the injured to hospitals and calling on citizens to replenish depleted blood banks.
Nurses and doctors formed a human chain to keep grieving family members from forcing their way into the city's emergency rooms, surgery wards and morgue.
"I've been a doctor here for 30 years, and I've never seen such a bloody day," said Eduardo Chavez, the director of the city's largest hospital.
Fires raged in government buildings as firefighters abandoned their posts and joined the police in the protests. The buildings were still smouldering well after dark.
Inmates set fire to the city's largest jail, and attempted a mass escape. Soldiers fired bullets at convicts trying to crawl to freedom.
Thousands of people also gathered in the streets below the city's largest department store, stretching out their arms as looters hurled boxes of goods from the windows.
One man carried away a pair of Barbie socks. "I have daughters," he explained. Another inexplicably yelled: "Give me turtles, the turtles!"
Bolivia, a country well known for its violent repression of mass demonstrations, has not seen such a bloody incident since the country elected its first democratic government in 1982.
"The big difference is that the government always had the police to defend the constitution," said Carlos Toranzo, a political analyst in La Paz. "This time, the police left the fate of the nation in the hands of the looters."
Other analysts said that the violence was the result of tension built up over a decade of economic reforms. The reforms have left Bolivia as the poorest country in South America.
"The government should have known better than to squeeze more money from the poor like this," said Oswaldo Reyes, a 70-year-old who went to hospital to give blood.
Street protests began on Monday after Mr Sanchez de Lozada, struggling to lift the country out of a five-year recession, approved tax hikes.
Unions, businesses and others came out against the increases, but the police revolt appeared to spark the violent street clashes with government troops.
Officers in the capital are paid the equivalent of about 880 bolivianos (£150) a month, a salary that would have been eroded by proposed income tax increases ranging from 7% to 13%. They have demanded a 40% pay rise.