Peruvian officials say one man was killed and 61 people injured as police tried to clear a main highway of protesting workers seeking to prevent a smelter from closing.
La Oroya hospital director Elias Lazo tells Canal N television that the 41-year-old who died suffered a chest wound. Fifteen people were seriously hurt with gunshot wounds.
Video broadcast by the station showed police firing pistols yesterday as they retreated behind shields under a shower of rocks.
The protesters are demanding eased environmental standards so a buyer can be found for the Doe Run metallurgy complex. Otherwise it will go into liquidation with 2,400 jobs lost.
The complex's notorious contamination made the city of La Oroya one of the world's most polluted places during the 2000s.
