Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia's interior minister, announced in a press conference Tuesday that he was resigning due to heavy criticism following a violent weekend crackdown on protesting Amazon natives.

Riot police fired tear gas and arrested hundreds Sunday when they charged into a camp of activists protesting the planned building of a road through an Amazon rainforest nature preserve, home to some 50,000 natives from three different indigenous groups.

Llorenti said he was resigning in an attempt to avoid politicizing the event and to defend himself from fierce criticism over the crackdown.

"I'm not abandoning the ship because it was sinking, but to the contrary, I'm stepping aside with the humble goal of allowing the ship of the revolutionary process to advance with more speed," said Llorenti, who took the job in January 2010.

Llorenti's resignation follows that of now ex-defense minister Cecilia Chacon, who left office over the incident on Monday.

The protests and fallout from the crackdown have amounted to a major challenge for the leftist government of Evo Morales, the country's first elected indigenous president, who has said the 300-kilometer (186-mile) highway was vital for economic development.

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