Teachers run from teargas during a protest in Quito, Dec.10, 2003. Thousands of teachers protested in Quito's streets against the Government of President Lucio Gutierrez, asking for an increase of their salaries.   [AP]

Ecuador's teachers striking for raises and parents demanding better schools clashed with police in protests that sought symbolically to take over the capital's downtown.

Wednesday's protest erupted in violence when police fired tear gas at marchers advancing on the Presidential Palace.

"This siege is in the name of human rights — it's a takeover in the name of education," teachers' union leader Ernesto Castillo told reporters.

About 5,000 teachers and supporters set fires, hurled rocks and used clubs to fight police in riot gear. Television images showed protesters — among them children — gagging on tear gas.

Four police were wounded when a group of students attacked a station and set it on fire, television news reported.

Meanwhile, armed soldiers formed a ring around the Presidential Palace to keep protesters at bay. President Lucio Gutierrez was out delivering toys to poor kids in a rundown section of the city.

Ecuador's 120,000 public school teachers went on strike on Nov. 11, demanding that Gutierrez's government deliver on promises — which he made to end a monthlong strike in July — to raise teachers' monthly salaries by $10 and invest $11.7 million to build new schools and refurbish old ones.

Teachers at public schools in Ecuador earn between $160 and $350 a month.

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