Tomatoes thrown at Bolivia's vice president during speech

BOGOTA, Colombia

Supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales attempted to disrupt a speech by Vice President David Choquehuanca in the National Assembly by throwing tomatoes at him.

A group of lawmakers from the Movement for Socialism (MAS), a party aligned with Morales, threw tomatoes at Choquehuanca as he took the podium.

Choquehuanca was forced to leave the assembly without delivering his speech. The incident led to fighting between Morales' supporters and members of the ruling party.

President Luis Arce condemned the incident, calling it "vandalism" carried out by Morales' supporters.

"Evoism has once again shown that it has no will for dialogue with these actions. What happened today does not represent the sentiments of the Bolivian people," he said.

Morales took to social media in response to accuse Arce of treason.

"He promised to fix the economy, but he made it worse. He pledged to respect institutions, but led them to destruction. He promised transparency, but he has been involved in corruption," he said.

Morales also announced that he was ending a hunger strike he started six days ago to pressure the government to engage in dialogue with his supporters.

Protesters had been blocking highways for 19 days beginning on Oct. 11 to protest a warrant for the arrest of Morales for "rape, human trafficking, and smuggling."

Demonstrators demanded the resignation of Arce and the revocation of the arrest order.

Morales was the target of an armed attack on Oct. 28 as he traveled from the town of Villa Tunari to Lauca, where he was headed to meet coca farmers.

He reported that his vehicle was shot at least 14 times, and his driver was injured in the attack.

Morales blamed Arce for the attack.

"Arce will go down in history as the worst president. Attacking a former president is crossing the line," he said.

Morales' supporters then blocked roads in central Bolivia, leading to clashes with hundreds of police officers who intervened against the protesters.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul