Angry demonstrators take police hostage in Peru

AREQUIPA, Peru, July 14 (Reuters) Hundreds of angry demonstrators took nine police hostage in southern Peru, amid a string of protests against President Alan Garcia, police said.

''The protesters surrounded a group of nine police that were lifting a road blockage on the Arequipa-Puno road, and took them hostage,'' a police officer who asked not to be named told Reuters yesterday.

''They (protesters) tied them up, and they are still being held by the mob,'' the official added.

According to the police, some 1,000 protesters had blocked the highway, some 690 miles (1,100 km) south of the capital Lima, to demand the government invest in the region and express support for a public teachers strike that started this week.

Local media reported that protest leaders want to swap the hostages for 14 demonstrators detained earlier.

Meanwhile, hundreds of public teachers took to the streets of Lima yesterday to demand the government withdraw an education reform plan, which they say will leave hundreds of teachers unemployed.

Farmers, builders and people from impoverished regions have staged sometimes-violent protests this week to demand that the center-left Garcia government invest more in social projects and improve working conditions.

Garcia took office for a second time a year ago, pledging to claw Peru away from a ''social catastrophe'' by creating jobs and ending growing inequality.

His first term in power ended in 1990 amid economic turmoil and widespread protests.

REUTERS RKM BST0703