Hundreds of protesters have clashed with police in the Peruvian city of Arequipa during a demonstration against the controversial sale of two state electricity companies, based in southern Peru.

The government went ahead with the sale of the companies to the Belgian firm, Tractebel, despite a court ruling on Thursday blocking it.

President Alejandro Toledo said he would not bow to the protesters' demands and announced the government would be pressing on with similar privatisation plans.

A senior Peruvian official Roberto Dañino told the BBC the protesters did not speak for the majority who, he said, welcomed the sales and the resources which were going to be re-invested locally.

Demonstrators - including the mayor of Arequipa - are holding a hunger strike outside the city's cathedral, and say they will not give up.

The local authorities say they will present a criminal complaint against the state for interfering in judicial procedures.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service