news from Bolivia

Bolivian police forces have freed hundreds of Amazon Indians detained during a protest march against a highway they fear will damage their lands.

Interior Minister Sat Loretta has told a news conference that police decided to free the detainees Monday after hundreds of local residents blocked the runway to the airport to stop authorities from flying the prisoners out of town.

Loretta says the decision was made "to prevent confrontations."

Police detained the marchers Sunday in an act that some protesters called unnecessarily aggressive.

Bolivian Defense Minister Cecilia Chicano resigned Monday, saying she didn't agree with the government's decision to break up the march.

[courtesy of The Frame]