At least 20 people, most of them police, were injured and 54 youths were detained Tuesday in Bolivia's capital La Paz when police used tear gas to quell clashes at a student demonstration, police said.
Several hundred students from the university in El Alto, just outside the capital, had rallied to demand more public funding, charging that the capital's San Andres university was getting too much.
Demonstrators blocked the road linking La Paz and El Alto for several hours, disrupting traffic to the capital's international airport. They destroyed toll booths, a police station and public buses with stones and dynamite.
Police then intervened, using tear gas and water cannons to break up the protest.
Police colonel Roberto Ocampo said the 54 people detained included 48 students and six other women.
A total of 15 universities receive public funding in Bolivia.