VIDEO: Striking miners clash with police

Police and striking miners clashed in Bolivia's administrative capital on Wednesday after talks with the government over additional funding for economic development failed.

Miners' leaders from the city of Potosi, 420 kilometres (260 miles) south of La Paz, walked out of a meeting at the Ministry of Interior where their demands for a new airport, hospital and cement factory were being discussed.

The protesters have turned down an offer by Bolivian President Evo Morales to meet with his ministers, instead demanding direct talks with the president.

The miners later surrounded the ministry building and began detonating small quantities of dynamite in protest.

In response, police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.

Some bushes inside the German embassy, which is located in front of the Ministry of interior, caught fire and firefighters were called to extinguish the flames, the embassy told the Associated Press.