(28 May 2011)
1. Various of rocks blocking main road into Puno
2. Wide of people walking in road
3. Pan of protesters in Acora
4. Close-up of protester
5. Mid of women chanting
6. Close-up of women clapping
7. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Milton Cayapasa, protester:
"We are not going to allow - and get this into your head President Alan Garcia - we won't allow foreign companies to get into our lands and our territories which are ours, it belongs to the indigenous inhabitants of these lands. This strike goes on."
8. Wide of protesters
9. Close-up of protesters clapping
10. Wide of protesters in street
11. Mid of protesters
12. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Cristina, protester:
"We are not going to let that voracious Alan Garcia get away (with it), he has sold all of our territories to the Canadian miners."
13. Mid of protesters chanting
STORYLINE:
Protesters demanding Peru's government cancel the licence for a Canadian-owned mine continued their demonstrations on Saturday.
Peaceful action took place in towns and villages in the province of Pune, in Peru's southern highlands, with no violence reported.
Tens of thousands of mostly Aymara Indians have been demonstrating for more than two weeks, calling for the licence for the Santa Ana mine to be scrapped.
"We are not going to allow - and get this into your head President Alan Garcia - we won't allow foreign companies to get into our lands and our territories which are ours, it belongs to the indigenous inhabitants of these lands. This strike goes on," said Milton Cayapasa, one of the protesters.
Road blockades have remained in place this weekend, paralysing commerce and tourism.
"We are not going to let that voracious Alan Garcia get away (with it), he has sold all of our territories to the Canadians miners," said Cristina, another of the demonstrators.
Saturday's peaceful demonstrations follow violent protests in Puno city on Thursday, when rioters attacked the local tax office, hauling files and furniture into the street and setting them ablaze.
Campaigners also smashed windows at other public buildings and banks and burned several vehicles.
The protests come less than two weeks before Peru's presidential run-off election on 5 June.
Action against the mining sector in Peru has been constant for the past three years in different provinces of the country.
Local residents claim that mining companies - mainly foreign - severely damage the environment, hurting agriculture and cattle farming, while benefiting from taxes exemptions.
President Alan Garcia's government has always dismissed any request to change the current mining laws, arguing the industry is key to Peru's development.
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