Several protesters have been wounded in clashes between soldiers and strikers in Peru.
The clashes occured as thousands took to the streets in defiance of a government-imposed state of emergency.
At least 21 people were hurt, some from gunshot wounds, in Barranca, north of Lima, according to a local hospital official, as troops fired to disperse rock-throwing farmers a day after unpopular President Alejandro Toledo imposed a 30-day state of emergency and banned strikers from streets.
Defense Minister Aurelio Loret de Mola denied that soldiershad fired directly at protesters, and Solari said most of theviolence was due to troublemakers looking to incite unrest.
Earlier in the day, security forces fired tear gas andarrested teachers in the northern city of Chiclayo, while shops in the jungle city of Huanuco were shuttered to avoid looting.
In Lima, police in riot gear turned water hoses on protesting court workers at the national justice palace.
Interior Minister Alberto Sanabria said 95 people werearrested across Peru in the latest in a series of widespreadprotests by Peruvians demanding better pay and conditions.
Health workers and farmers have, at least officially,temporarily called off strikes that disrupted highway transportwith blockades of rocks and trees. But teachers, striking formore than two weeks demanding a rise of 210 soles ($60) to anaverage monthly wage of 700 soles ($200), were undeterred.
"The 100-sol ($29) raise they have offered us isinsufficient ... so we teachers have the right to keepexpressing our unhappiness in the streets," said Nilver Lopez,head of the SUTEP union that groups some 280,000 teachers.
Toledo's 2-year-old presidency has been marked by protestsand a declining approval rating that now stands at 14 percent.
Many Peruvians complain Toledo - a US-trained formerWorld Bank adviser - has failed to fulfill ambitious promisesof jobs, prosperity and a return to true democracy after thecorrupt, hard-line rule of ex-President Alberto Fujimori.
Protests intensified in recent weeks with farmers,teachers, health and court workers pledging they would not giveup on demands for wage rises and greater job security.
Many schools remain empty despitea promise to reopen. "This isn't democracy. They send out soldiers as soon as they are unable to manage," said teacher Carmen Fajardo, 58, banging cymbals at a Lima school.