Paraguayan farmers denounce president

Several thousand farmers in Paraguay have staged a march in the capital, Asuncion, to demand a series of agricultural reforms.

One of the organisers, Alberto Areco, told the BBC that if their demands were not met in thirty days, they would begin blocking the country's main roads.

Some of the protestors carried banners calling for the resignation of the president, Luis Gonzalez Macchi, who has come under pressure to step following a corruption scandal and his handling of the economy.

The authorities deployed large numbers of police, saying they feared elements opposed to the president would use the march to provoke unrest.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service