WRAPUP 4-Pro-Zelaya protests grip Honduras ahead of talks

(For a TAKE A LOOK on Honduras, click on [ID:nN28343997])

* Roadblocks by Zelaya supporters shut highways

* Pro-Zelaya protesters say will be out again on Friday

* Interim gov't says increasing security, reimposes curfew

* Saturday talks will seek to break post-coup impasse (Adds capital's roadblocks lifted, coffee, quotes)

By Simon Gardner and Gustavo Palencia

TEGUCIGALPA, July 16 (Reuters) - Supporters of Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya shut down commercial highways on Thursday in protests in the capital and other places, demanding his reinstatement ahead of weekend mediation talks.

The demonstrations by hundreds of Zelaya followers took place as Costa Rican President Oscar Arias prepared to host talks on Saturday with the rival sides in the political crisis triggered by the June 28 coup that toppled Zelaya.

Watched by armed soldiers and riot police, the protesters shut off the northern and southern entrances to the hill-ringed capital Tegucigalpa for several hours, backing up trucks and other vehicles for miles (kilometres) in both directions.

They later lifted the roadblocks, vowing to return in force on Friday to repeat the protests.

Police also reported protest roadblocks at Comayagua and at Copan on routes that carry exports and imports to and from neighboring El Salvador. But the interim government said commercial traffic was running over the frontiers of Honduras, an impoverished exporter of bananas, coffee and textiles.

Arias, mediating in Central America's worst crisis since the Cold War, is due to host talks between envoys representing Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, the interim president installed by Honduras' Congress after the coup. After an inconclusive initial round last week, the two sides are deadlocked.

Zelaya is demanding that Micheletti comply with international calls for his immediate reinstatement.

Micheletti has said the army lawfully removed Zelaya because he violated the constitution by seeking to lift limits on presidential terms and has ruled out Zelaya's return to office.

Arias told local radio in Costa Rica on Thursday he would try to broker a compromise, such as a national reconciliation government between the two sides or an amnesty.

MORE PROTESTS PLANNED FOR FRIDAY