Clashes in Peru as thousands protest at govt
Nationwide death toll increases to 45
LIMA: Thousands marched through Peru’s capital on Thursday in a large anti-government rally punctuated by clashes with police, while the death toll from over a month of violent protests climbed in the country’s southern regions.
Some of the Lima protesters, who are demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and fresh elections, threw stones and bottles at officers in the city centre, AFP reporters saw.
The police were forced to temporarily retreat before they dug in behind riot shields and began deploying tear gas. At least two people were injured. One building near the central Plaza San Martin caught fire, though it was not immediately clear how.
Peru has been rocked by protests since the ouster of Ms Boluarte’s predecessor, Pedro Castillo, early last month — though violent clashes have largely been isolated thus far to the country’s south and east.
In the southern city of Arequipa, some 1,000 protesters tried early on Thursday to storm the airport, but were also repelled by police firing tear gas, local TV showed.
Peru’s human rights ombudsman later announced that one person had been killed in Arequipa, adding to two other deaths resulting from clashes on Wednesday and raising the nationwide death toll to 45.
The demonstrators in Lima, who are mostly from Andean regions, set off from several points around the capital with the aim of reaching the heavilyguarded presidential palace by the end of Thursday.
“Dina listen, the people disown you,” they chanted, while others called for the president to be assassinated.
“We are here, fighting for our just cause. We want them to close Congress,” villager Ayda Aroni, who came from Ayacucho, 330 kilometres southeast of Lima, told AFP. “We are marginalised, they say we’re vandals, they call us terrorists, we’re demanding our rights.”
“I am in Lima to defend the country because there is too much corruption. Dina does not represent us. We’re going to stay for a week to continue the demonstrations,” said Demetrio Jimenez, who came from Puno, near the Bolivian border.
Demonstrators also tried to once again take over the airport in Cusco, a popular tourist destination, though it was closed; while there were similar protests in regions such as Puno, Huanuco and Tacna.
Ms Boluarte called for dialogue late on Thursday.
“I will not tire” of seeking peaceful ways to move the country forward, she said on state television — adding that the “acts of violence generated throughout December and now in January will not go unpunished”.
The protesters in Lima are trying to keep up pressure on the government, defying a state of emergency declared to maintain order.
On Thursday, the emergency was extended to three more regions, bringing almost one-third of the country under the order.
“We have 11,800 police officers in the streets to control unrest, we have more than 120 vans and 49 military vehicles, and also the armed forces are participating,” said police chief Victor Zanabria Thursday. Protesters are undeterred, though. “In Lima, the struggle has more weight. When they repress us in our regions, no one mentions it,” said Abdon Felix Flores, a 30-year-old villager from Andahuaylas in the Cusco region.
Mr Flores said he was ready “to give my life” to ensure change.
“We have come in an organized way to take over Lima, to paralyze Lima, to be heard,” said Jesus Gomez, an engineer from Chumbivilcas, also in the Cusco region.
One of Peru’s biggest labour unions, the General Confederation of Workers, called a strike for Thursday, though there were no visible signs of such a strike in Lima.
“The Peruvian people’s struggle will not end tomorrow,” Geronimo Lopez, general secretary of the union, said in a press conference late Wednesday night.
“It will continue as long as Mrs Dina Boluarte doesn’t listen to the people,” added Mr Lopez.