President Carlos Mesa of Bolivia has resigned as anti-government protests continue. Over 100,000 people, largely indigenous people, students, teachers, miners and farmers, have virtually shut down the country. Protesters and police have clashed in several towns with the army and police over the last few days. In La Paz, the capital, protesters used dynamite sticks to fight the police.

Protesters are opposed to the Mesa’s neoliberal agenda. The protests erupted last month after a law was passed imposing taxes on foreign companies that have invested in Bolivia's gas reserves, which are the second-largest in South America. The protesters said the law did not go far enough and called for the gas industry to be nationalised. They also want constitutional reforms to give greater rights to the country's poor indigenous population.

A New Zealander currently in Bolivia writes:

"a revolutionary situation is brewing in this impoverished Andean country, and with the president resigning last night, things are hotting up here. [...] Those protesting are a mixture of workers, peasents, students, and this group has basically held the country at a standstill for the last 2 weeks. It is hard to say what will happen next, but with the level of militancy and organisation we are seeing here, it is unlikely to end in defeat."

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