LA PAZ: A 48-hour strike by public transport workers paralyzed La Paz Monday, closing schools and forcing liberal leave policies to be invoked for government employees.

Hundreds of people walked to work because of the strike by bus and taxi drivers, the latest in a wave of labor protests to hit the leftist government of President Evo Morales since mid-April.

The drivers are protesting a new law requiring them to use seat belts and to meet scheduled stops.

The strikers blocked intersections with buses and taxis to bring traffic to a standstill in La Paz and the neighboring suburb of Los Altos.

The Bolivian Workers Confederation, meanwhile, has called a 72-hour general strike beginning Wednesday to press for higher pay and to back doctors who have been striking against an extension of the work day from six to eight hours.