- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 04:04 05:30 12:26 15:47 19:16 20:42
Riot police clashed with gold miners protesting a clamp-down on illegal mining in southeastern Peru Wednesday in disturbances that left three people dead and 29 injured, officials said.
"We have to lament the death of three civilians," said Interior Minister Daniel Lozada in a radio interview.
Some 60 people were arrested in the disturbances by thousands of miners which paralyzed Puerto Maldonado, the capital of the region of Madre de Dios, which borders Brazil and Bolivia, officials said.
Protesters used "explosives and other materials" in an attempt to take over the city's airport, and blocked bridges and key roads into the city with tree trunks, rocks and burning tires, they said.
The rioters also tried to set fire to a market and banks in downtown Puerto Maldonado, they said.
"Things are tending to get worse as the hours pass," Madre de Dios regional President Luis Aguirre told reporters.
Five of those wounded in clashes with police suffered gunshot wounds and 17 others were hit with buckshot or rubber bullets, said Rolando Luque with the Peruvian Ombudsman's office.
Nine police officers were struck by stones thrown by protesters, he said.
Some 10,000 miners turned out to protest after the Peruvian government issued a decree ordering them to cease operations in the Pampa region.
Previously, the Peruvian military has destroyed dredges used for unauthorized gold mining.
The small-scale miners extract gold and other minerals from unlicensed mines without government permission, mostly in southeastern Peru.
The government accuses miners of fouling waterways with chemicals, such as mercury. They also are accused of destroying thousands of acres of the rainforest.
Luque asked leaders of the miners "to show responsibility and get in touch immediately with the authorities to restart the dialogue interrupted two days ago."
Peru is the world's fifth-ranking producer of gold with 182 tons mined a year and accounts for 40 percent of Latin America's gold production.
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