Thousands of demonstrators marched on Bolivia's seat of government in La Paz on Wednesday, clashing with riot police near Plaza Murillo — the square that houses the presidential palace — as a protest movement now in its fifth week intensified demands for President Rodrigo Paz to resign. Officers deployed tear gas as protesters threw stones and erected barricades made from rubbish containers near the government building. At least five people were detained during the confrontations.

The demonstrators, drawn largely from Bolivia's workers, farmers, miners, and teachers, marched roughly 15 kilometres from El Alto — a large, predominantly indigenous city that sits on the high plateau above La Paz — into the capital's centre. Many wore traditional ponchos and mining helmets and carried indigenous flags, chanting slogans demanding Paz's departure. The protests reflect deep frustration with the president's proposed economic reforms and his government's inability to address a severe economic crisis marked by food, fuel, and medicine shortages, as well as surging prices.

Bolivia has been grappling with a foreign-currency crisis since 2023. The previous government of Luis Arce, which held power from 2020 to 2025, drained the country's dollar reserves by subsidising domestic fuel prices — purchasing fuel at international rates and selling it locally at a loss. Paz, a centre-right leader elected after roughly two decades of socialist governance, scrapped those subsidies in December, a decision that has deepened public hardship. His government has been in office for seven months.

Former president Evo Morales, the long-serving socialist leader who dominated Bolivian politics for much of the past two decades, has thrown his support behind the protests. Speaking to supporters in the coca-growing Trópico de Cochabamba region on Wednesday, Morales challenged Paz to a public debate and declared he was ready to demonstrate "how to govern." The current government accuses Morales — who is a fugitive facing investigation over alleged involvement in human trafficking, charges he denies — of stoking the unrest, and also claims that groups linked to drug trafficking are behind the mobilisation.

Facing escalating pressure, Paz has signed legislation expanding his authority to declare a state of emergency, a measure that would allow the government to restrict freedom of movement and assembly and deploy the armed forces to clear roadblocks. The government says the protest blockades have already caused economic losses exceeding 1.2 billion US dollars. Whether Paz will invoke those powers — a step that risks further inflaming tensions — remains the central question as Bolivia's political and economic crisis deepens.