LA PAZ, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Some 50 prostitutes near La Paz went on a hunger strike Monday and threatened to march naked down the streets of El Alto to reopen the bars and strip joints closed down by the local population last week.

"We've all taken our HIV-AIDS test and we're going on a hunger strike," the protest leader told reporters inside a local AIDS clinic where the street workers undergo regular checkups and have holed up for now.

Withholding her identity, the woman said that if El Alto wants to get rid of prostitutes "then the government should give us a hand and take care of our children, and afterward provide us with jobs."

In addition to taking over the AIDS clinic and refusing to eat, the prostitutes are threatening to march naked down the streets of the town to defend their right to work.

Many of El Alto's residents last week demonstrated outside the town's 32 bars and strip joints forcing them to close, complaining that they are magnets for lawbreakers and a bad influence on children.

According to unofficial estimates, there are between 400 and 500 prostitutes plying their trade in El Alto for an average income of 40 dollars a day.

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