Paraguay's Congress voted on Friday to remove leftist President Fernando Lugo from office in a lightning-quick impeachment trial that he said was tantamount to a coup.

Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop who quit the Church to run for the presidency, is accused of mishandling armed clashes over a land eviction in which 17 police and

peasant farmers were killed last week.

Security forces were lined up outside the congressional building to keep several thousand protesters at bay.

Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters