A scuffle erupted between protesters and the police on Thursday, after several hundred union members and activists finished a rally against Governor Luis Fortuño outside El Conquistador hotel, where the Governor held a conference with business companies on public-private partnerships. The hotel resort is in Fajardo, a town east of San Juan to which the Governor arrived by helicopter to avoid the protest.

Check out photos from the protest:

Rally participants from coalition Todo Puerto Rico Por Puerto Rico and journalists were pushed by the police riot squad in Fajardo, with police officers claiming the protest was already finished and some "troublemakers" did not want to leave the premises. The protest was called to condemn the nearly 20,000 layoffs of public employees--which includes over 7,000 members of SEIU Local 1996SPT--by Gov. Fortuño's administration, and his initiatives for the private sector to take services and state project.

President of SPT-SEIU Robert Pagan said his union is in talks with the Obama administration to discuss federal economic stimulus funds given to Puerto Rico being used to lay-off public employees.