RIOTING IN BOLIVIA KILLS 20; PRESIDENT UNDER PRESSURE

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Tanks formed an iron curtain in front of Bolivia's
presidential palace Thursday as a second day of violent protests swept the
Andean nation and calls grew for President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to resign.

The death toll climbed to at least 20 on Thursday as scattered violence and
looting continued across the country. A clash between police and soldiers,
who have feuded for decades, sparked the clash, which was joined by
citizens angry over an unpopular income tax.

Thursday, authorities met union-led anti-government demonstrations in the
capital city of La Paz with bullets and tear gas. Bolivian media reports
said at least two looters were shot to death and 12 others were injured,
some gravely.

Sanchez de Lozada, 72, known by his nickname, Goni, said through his
Cabinet chief that he would not resign.

Unions, indigenous groups and political opponents Thursday launched what
they promised would be nationwide highway blockages and other protests
aimed at toppling the pro-U.S. government that took office in August.

Leading the opposition effort is Evo Morales, who came close to winning the
presidency last year and whose Movement to Socialism Party now controls
about a third of Bolivia's Congress.

Morales champions poor, mostly indigenous farmers who grow coca, the plant
from which cocaine is made. In a heated address to demonstrators in La
Paz's Plaza de San Francisco on Thursday, Morales called for civil unrest.

Morales' supporters and government opponents then tried to storm the Plaza
Murillo in front of the presidential palace, but soldiers repelled them.
Wednesday, students stoned the presidential palace while police officers,
who were on strike, stood by and did nothing. Soldiers then fired on
students and police. Police stayed out of the fray Thursday after the
government agreed to raise their pay.

Bolivia has been racked with sporadic violent protests for several years,
as the poor majority grows increasingly frustrated with an open economy
that has brought them few new opportunities. Forced eradication of coca
takes away one of the few cash crops for farmers.

The tax that drove people onto the streets, and was withdrawn by the
president in a bid for calm, affected anyone who made two times more than
the monthly minimum wage of $58.