5. Study Grammar Reference p. And change the following excepts from ‘The Guardian’ into reported speech. Remember that there may be more than one possibility.

1. Bolivia’s capital was yesterday under siege as protesters from across the country marched towards La Paz. Angry Bolivians said: “A decade of privatizations and pro-US policies, advocated by the International Monetary Fund, have increased poverty in a country where more than 80% live below the poverty line.”

2. “This is a socialist rebellion against an economic model that has not brought the expected results,” said Alvaro Garcia, a sociologist at the La Paz university. He went on to say: “During the past few days the government has split and there are signs that the president may be losing the confidence of the armed forces.”

3. Last month 2,000 opposition leaders in Bolivia began a hunger strike over the government’s proposal to export gas. They said: “The plan will allow foreigners to plunder Bolivia’s natural resources at the expense of the country’s poor – a pattern that has been repeated ever since the Spanish conquistadors forced the Indians to dig silver from the mines of Potosi.”

4. A French government source told the ‘Guardian’: “Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols are almost certain to be banned from French schools and public buildings after a specially appointed commission told the government yesterday that legislation was needed to defend the secular nature of the state.”

5. He also said: “The commission is headed by the national ombudsman, Bernard Stasi, and has been studying the issue of the secular nature of the state since the president appointed this 20-member group six months ago. The report compiled by the commission recommends that all conspicuous signs of religious belief should be outlawed in state-approved schools. It also recommends that the laws should include a clause requiring the strict neutrality of all public service employees.”

6. A member of the groups said: “Some Muslim women have repeatedly been insisting on their husbands accompanying them at all times in hospital and accepting only female doctors.” The report said: “The legislation must remind all health service users that it is forbidden to reject a healthcare worker, and that the rules of hygiene must be respected.”

7. In a gesture of respect to “all spiritual options”, however, the report said: “The Jewish and Muslim holy days should be made official school holidays, and companies should consider ways of allowing employees to take off the religious holiday of their choice.”

8. A member of the commission said: “In France, where secularism is a constitutional guarantee and everyone is supposed to be equally French regardless of ethnic or religious differences, the issue has dominated media, public and political debate since the commission started its work.” He added: “The origin of the debate which has split French society along unfamiliar lines, is considered to be the radicalization of French Islam.”

9. Sir Peter Burt, the newly appointed chairman of ITV, yesterday gave a vote of confidence to chief executive Charles Allen. He said: “I would not have accepted the post if I thought Mr Allen was the wrong man to lead ITV.” He continued: “I would not have taken the job if I was not satisfied that Charles and I could work together and Charles had the skills and experience to do a good job.”

10. Sir Peter said: “Share holders got what they wanted when they ousted chairman Michael Green in October last year in an unprecedented display of activism.”

11. Seventeen-year-old Bassan Zaharan was suspected of wounding an Israeli soldier with a knife. A spokesman said: “If convicted, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years, but Israeli forces shot him dead before he could be put to trial.”

12. Describing the incident, the army said: “The attacker escaped but was pursued by Israeli forces. The force opened fire toward the assailant and killed him.”

13. Bassim Eid of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group said: “Any Palestinian who tries to approach an Israeli checkpoint is regarded with suspicion. According to their regulations, if a person tried to escape they should shoot in the air and then shoot at his legs. The penalty for a knife attack would depend on the severity of the injury, but the most serious charge – attempting to kill – would normally result in a seven-to-10-year sentence.”

14. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem said: “We will be investigating the incident. The rules of self-defence authorize soldiers to shoot to kill during an attack, but not if the assailant is running away.”

15. Yesterday, human rights organizations questioned: “Did Israeli troops follow their own regulations in dealing with the incident?” However, an Israeli army spokesman said: “The teenager threatened the soldiers with a knife when he was tracked down and they shot him in self-defence.”

16. There was another similar incident. Witnesses said: “A boy, aged 10, was critically wounded in the head by two rounds fired from an Israeli tank in the Rafah area in southern Gaza.” They said: “The boy was shot in the street where he lived as he left home for a private lesson.”