By Carlos Quiroga

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia's left-wing president, Evo Morales, accused political rivals of being behind a violent three-day uprising by police over wages on Sunday but said he would not deploy troops to restore order.

Dozens of officers have been hurt and several police stations destroyed during the protests in a fresh challenge to Morales, who has faced an upswing in social conflicts in the past year.

Rebel police invaded the downtown square in front of the presidential palace on Sunday, accusing their leaders of betraying them by signing a deal on pay and conditions with the government earlier in the day.

Some clashed with officers trying to return to their jobs, local media reported.

"The armed forces ... will not be sent onto the streets," Morales told peasant farmers and miners during a televised speech in the Andean highland town of Corocoro, warning that his supporters would defend the government "to the last."

"What are they after? ... the right-wingers want there to be deaths, but we're not going to play into their hands," said Morales, an ally of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who has steadily tightened state control over natural resources and public services.

Morales vowed to avoid a repeat of a police protest in 2003 that was quashed by the military, causing dozens of deaths.

Morales often blames social protests on political rivals bent on destabilizing the natural gas-exporting South American country, which has a history of coups and violent social conflicts. Continued...