The “taking of Lima”, as its promoters baptized the protest against the government of Dina Boluarte held this Thursday in the Peruvian capital, ended in heavy clashes between the police and some protesters, and the burning of a building in the historic center of the city. Peruvian capital whose origin is unknown.
The clashes occurred in different parts of the city. The police fired tear gas and formed cordons to prevent the advance of the demonstrators, who threw all kinds of objects at them.
After a long day of tension, and when the clashes were scattered throughout different parts of the capital, a building near the historic Plaza de San Martín, an emblematic point of the capital and where one of the largest groups of protesters had gathered, burned down. protesters.
Dozens of firefighters worked to put out the fire that It affected the building with three floors and a wooden structure.
This Thursday there were also violent clashes in Juliaca and Arequipain the south of the country.
At least 52 people have been killed since protests broke out in December after Pedro Castillo left power. The former president was arrested and ousted after his attempt to dissolve Congress and impose an emergency government in Peru.
Anti-government protesters they have been protesting for weeks in demand for the immediate resignation of Boluarte and the calling of elections to renew the Executive and Congress.
The Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, reported that the balance of the day this Thursday at the national level is 1 civilian dead and 16 injured, and 22 police officers injured.
In the evening, President Dina Boluarte addressed a televised message to the nation in which she promised that “Violence will not go unpunished” and accused the violent protesters of wanting to “create chaos and disorder to seize power in the nation.”
What happened in Lima
The capital had not seen to date incidents as intense and violent as those that occurred in the south of the country.
The “taking of Lima”, launched by the various organizations and groups, managed to move the protest to the capital and alter the normality of the city.
In recent days, protesters from other parts of the country have been arriving in the capital and a huge security operation was deployed throughout the city.
The demonstrators converged in mid-afternoon at different points in the center and began to march towards the Government Palace and the Congress of the Republic, where some threw cobblestones at the agents and were repelled with tear gas canisters.
The protest then dispersed into different groups and clashes and skirmishes broke out in different parts of the city. Some of the protesters already moved at night towards the Miraflores district, one of the most affluent in the capital, where incidents also took place.
day of rage and gas in Lima
By Guillermo D. Olmo, BBC News Mundo correspondent in Peru
The objective of the demonstrators in the march through the center of Lima were the centers of political power in the country, and that of the police deployed, to prevent them from reaching them. So the crash was guaranteed.
The influx to the protest was not as massive as some had predicted, but what the forecasts did get right is that there would be violence.
The nerves and the races began around 4 in the afternoon. At that time, the shops in the area had already closed in anticipation of incidents. Previous Peruvian crises have taught them how ugly things can get in the center of the capital.
Shouts of “Dina, murderess” or “Dina, resign”, were followed by the noise of police tear gas and the cobblestones thrown by the violent protesters, who were not the majority, but were very active in their desire to provoke disorders.
In the end, they were dispersed, but they continued their rounds and their game of cat and mouse with the police for a good part of the night.
The competition left a trail of destruction and more accumulated anger for those who believe that the fall of the government will solve the country’s problems. At the moment, nothing has been fixed, but Lima joined the Peruvian list of cities that regret damage.
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC Mundo. Download the new version of our app and activate them so you don’t miss out on our best content.
- Do you already know our YouTube channel? Subscribe!