Peru Congress repeals law after farmers' protests

Peru Congress has abolished a controversial law restricting farmworkers' rights, following a week-long strike by the agricultural labourers demanding better pay and basic social security benefits.

Lima: After a week of strikes by farmworkers in Peru against precarious working conditions, Congress on Friday abolished a controversial law that restricted workers' rights.

Agricultural labourers in the Ica and Viru regions had been demanding better pay and basic social security benefits.

Most of the strikers work in vineyards that produce pisco and wine for export.

Hundreds of workers have been on strike since Monday, blockading the Panamerican Highway.

Bus passengers expressed frustration at the blockade, although they said they sympathised with the farmworkers' demands.

Some buses were allowed to pass when the blockade was briefly lifted, but hundreds of other vehicles remained stranded.

Protests spread to the capital Lima on Friday, where people took to the streets on Friday in support of the workers.

It wasn't immediately clear if the repeal of the law would bring the protests to an end.

AP

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