LIMA, Jan. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Peruvian authorities have arrested the leader of the nationalist group Etnocaerista Movement (ME) who led his followers to occupy a police station, local media reported on Tuesday.

Antauro Humala talks on his cell phone during a rebel siege of a police station in the southern Andean town of Andahuaylas January 3. (Reuters)

    Peruvian Prime Minister Carlos Ferrero confirmed the arrest, adding that some of the followers were also detained.

    Antauro Humala, the ME leader and a retired army major, showed his willingness to surrender when negotiating with Peruvian national police chief Felix Murazzo in the town hall of Andahuaylas.

    More than 100 armed men belonging to the ME, which wants to establish a nationalist indigenous movement modeled on the ancient Incan Empire, seized a police station and held 10 policemen hostage last Saturday in Andahuaylas, a city 440 km southeast of Lima. They demanded the resignation of Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo.

    Four police officers were killed in an ambush by the ME as the security forces tried to besiege the occupied police station on Sunday.

    In October 2000, the Humala brothers led 50 followers in a short-lived military uprising, a month before the collapse of former President Alberto Fujimori's government. Enditem