Tension in Bolivia as Morales issues 24-hour ultimatum to Arce government

Former President Evo Morales is leading a protest march against the government of his one-time ally President Luis Arce, demanding changes.

Anti-government protesters have clashed with supporters of President Luis Arce in Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, as fears grow of further unrest in the Andean nation mired in an economic crisis ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Riot police and supporters of Arce gathered to defend the government on Monday evening in the Plaza Murrillo, the central square in La Paz where the main presidential and legislative offices are located, raising fears of a major confrontation.

Tensions rose as former President Evo Morales spoke to a large crowd and demanded that the government make cabinet changes “within 24 hours”, or face the wrath of thousands of protesters who he has led in a week-long march.

Morales declared that Bolivians had had “enough of betrayal and above all enough of corruption, protection of drug trafficking and economic mismanagement”.

For the last two days, acrid smoke from burning tyres and thick clouds of tear gas have filled the streets of El Alto, a sprawling city on a plateau above the capital as protesters on each side hurled firecrackers, homemade explosives and stones at each other, and riot police fired tear gas into the crowds.