(Reuters) – The biggest political protests in Peru’s capital in more than a decade have pressured President Ollanta Humala to clean up government and share the benefits of the country’s decade-long economic boom.

Many of the protesters were left-leaning and middle-class youth who voted for Humala two years ago, but now they say he and other political leaders are dangerously out of touch.

A former military officer and one-time nationalist radical, Humala has pledged to ensure more Peruvians benefit from growth rates of around 6 percent a year, record reserves and solid fiscal surpluses.

Humala has largely pleased investors by continuing free-market policies, but detractors say he has not made much progress on the “great transformation” he once promised.

With a quarter of Peruvians living in poverty, and crime and corruption still widespread, Humala’s approval ratings have slumped.

The street protests peaked with a rally of around 8,000 at the end of July. They were small compared to other protest movements in Latin America, but the biggest in Lima since 2000, when demonstrators took to the streets against President Alberto Fujimori. He was forced from power that same year and is in prison for corruption and human rights violations.

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