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LIMA (Peru), Jan. 20 (AP) Police fired tear gas to try to subdue thousands of protesters, many from the remote Andean region, who poured into the Peruvian capital on Thursday, calling on President Dina Bo Luarte stepped down and returned to power. The removal of his predecessor last month sparked deadly turmoil and plunged the country into political chaos.
Demonstrators gathered in Lima’s historic city center and scuffled with security forces, who barred them from entering key government buildings, including the Congress, as well as commercial and residential areas of the capital.
In addition to Boluarte’s resignation, supporters of former president Pedro Castillo are calling for the dissolution of Congress and immediate elections. Castillo, Peru’s first leader from a rural Andean background, was impeached after a failed attempt to dissolve Congress.
For much of the day, the protests resembled a game of cat and mouse, with demonstrators – some of whom threw rocks at law enforcement – trying to cross the cordon while police fired tear gas, forcing protesters to flee. Use a rag dampened with vinegar to relieve eye and skin irritation.
“We’re surrounded,” said Sofia Lopez, 42, sitting on a bench outside the country’s highest court. “We tried a lot of places, but we ended up staying where we were.”
Firefighters were struggling late Thursday to extinguish a raging fire that had broken out in an old building near the protests at Plaza San Martin in central Lima, but its relationship to the demonstrations was unclear. Images showed people scrambling to get their belongings out of the building close to several government offices.
As the sun set, fires blazed through the streets of central Lima as protesters threw rocks at police, who fired so much tear gas it was hard to see.
“I’m very angry,” said Verónica Paucar, 56, who coughed on the tear gas. “We will return in peace.”
Visibly frustrated, the protesters wanted to march to the Miraflores district, a neighborhood iconic to the economic elite.
In Miraflores Park, heavy police officers separated anti-government protesters from a small group of demonstrators who expressed support for law enforcement. Police also fired tear gas canisters there to disperse demonstrators.
Boluarte appeared defiant in a televised address with key government officials on Thursday night, in which she thanked police for containing the “violent protests” and vowed to prosecute those responsible for the violence.
The president also criticized the protests for “doing not have any social agenda that the country needs,” accusing them of “wanting to undermine the rule of law” and questioning their funding sources.
A total of 22 police officers and 16 civilians were injured across the country on Thursday, Interior Minister Vicente Romero Fernandez said.
At least 13 civilians and four police officers were injured during Thursday’s protests in Lima, Peru’s monitor said.
Until recently, the protests took place mainly in the Andes in southern Peru, where 55 people were killed in the unrest, mostly in clashes with security forces.
Anger against Boluarte was a common thread Thursday, as protesters chanted for her resignation and street vendors peddled T-shirts that read: “Get out, Dina Boluarte,” “Dina murderer, Peru denies you” and “New elections, let They all leave.”
“Our God says you must not kill your neighbor. Dina Boluarte is killing, she is making brothers fight,” Paulina Consac said as she marched with more than 2,000 protesters from Cuzco in central Lima. Bring a big Bible.
By early afternoon, protesters had turned major roads in central Lima into large pedestrian zones.
“We are at the dividing point between dictatorship and democracy,” said Pedro Mamani, a student at the National University of San Marcos, where the demonstrators who went to protest were housed.
Victor Zanabria, head of Lima’s police force, said the university was surrounded by police officers who were also deployed at key points in Lima’s historic downtown district – a total of 11,800 police officers .
Protests were also held elsewhere, with videos posted on social media showing demonstrators trying to storm the airport south of Arequipa, Peru’s second-largest city. Peruvian monitors said they were stopped by police and one person was killed in the ensuing clashes.
It was one of three airports hit by protesters on Thursday, Boluarte said, adding that it was not a “pure coincidence” that they were attacked on the same day.
The protests that erupted last month marked the worst political violence in more than two decades and highlighted deep divisions between the urban elite, mostly in Lima, and impoverished rural areas.
By bringing the protest to Lima, demonstrators hope to give new weight to a movement that started when Boluarte was sworn in to replace Castillo on Dec. 7.
“When tragedies and massacres occur outside the capital, it is not as politically important on the public agenda as it is in Like the capital.” .
The concentration of protesters in Lima also reflects the start of more anti-government demonstrations in the capital in recent days.
Boluarte said she supports plans to hold presidential and congressional elections in 2024, two years earlier than originally scheduled.
Activists dubbed Thursday’s demonstration in Lima the Cuatro Suyos March, referring to the four cardinal points of the Inca empire. It was also the name of the mass mobilization in 2000, when tens of thousands of Peruvians took to the streets against the authoritarian government of Alberto Fujimori, who resigned months later.
But there are important differences between those demonstrations and this week’s protests.
“In 2000, people protested against a regime that had consolidated power,” Cardenas said. “In this case, they’re fighting a government that’s only been in power for a month and is very fragile.”
The 2000 protests also had centralized leadership, led by political parties.
The recent protests have been largely grassroots efforts without clear leadership, a dynamic that was evident on Thursday as protesters often seemed lost, not knowing where to go next as their paths were repeatedly blocked by law enforcement. broken.
The protests have grown to such an extent that demonstrators are unlikely to be satisfied with Boluarte’s resignation and are now demanding more fundamental structural reforms.
Protesters said Thursday they would not be intimidated.
“It’s not going to end today, it’s not going to end tomorrow, but it’s only going to end when we achieve our goals,” David Lozada, 61, looked at a row of helmeted, shielded The police said as they prevented the protesters from entering. Leave Lima city center. “I don’t know what they’re thinking, are they trying to start a civil war?” (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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