Bolivian Activists End Blockade

Anti-government protesters Thursday lifted barricades of rocks and burning tires that had sealed off Bolivia’s capital for three days.

Protesters marched from El Alto, a poor combative city that controls access to La Paz, the capital, jubilant over President Carlos Mesa’s decision Tuesday to cancel a water concession run by a French company, but still wanting more.

“The strike is lifted. That is the decision of all the districts of El Alto,” said Abel Mamani, president of the powerful neighborhood group in El Alto, whose residents are mainly Aymara Indians. “But the struggle continues for our other demands, such as the annulment of the increase in gas prices,” he said.

Protests were still planned in Santa Cruz, the country’s largest and richest city, against the hike.