At least 108 people were arrested in Peru's capital Lima on Tuesday in the violence sparked by a 24-hour transportation strike, authorities said.

Some 58 people were arrested in the capital's Cono Norte area, said Julio Talledo, a public affairs prosecutor in the Interior Ministry. Another 50 people were being held in the Social Matters Division's cells, he added.

Charges on the arrestees included breaking the windscreen of police cars, obstructing public transportation, public nuisance and damaging public property.

Transportation workers in Peru are on a strike to demand a reduction in traffic infraction fines. Thousands of residents in the greater Lima area were forced to walk or take taxicars to commute as most public transportation was brought to a halt.

Peru's Labor Ministry gave its employees an extra two hours to travel to work, and some 5,300 police officers are patrolling the streets in Lima to maintain order.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2009)