LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - Riot police fired tear gas and clashed with protesters demanding more power for Bolivia's impoverished Indian majority Tuesday as an offer by the president to resign failed to halt a crippling blockade in the Bolivian capital.

Police dragged miners from the yellow dump trucks in which they had converged on the city, beating some of the protesters. No injuries were immediately reported. But army troops were seen taking up posts near the downtown Government Palace as demonstrators scattered through city streets shouting slogans against President Carlos Mesa.