Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Peru’s capital, Lima, to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, after dozens of caravans of demonstrators from regions across the country have arrived in the city in recent days.
A month and a half after the beginning of the social outbreak in which Peru is immersed and with a death toll that has exceeded 50 deaths since December 7, the national strike celebrates a day of protests marked by the heavy police deployment of the Peruvian authorities, with more than 11,000 security agents in the streets of the capital.
The country’s authorities have asked the demonstrators for calm and have appealed for them to express their demands in a peaceful manner. In fact, the president herself appealed last Monday to Peruvian citizens to carry out the ‘Toma de Lima’ «in peace».
During the day on Thursday there have been clashes between demonstrators and security forces in various parts of the city, as well as the burning of street furniture, the closure of part of the public transportation system, and the launching of tear gas by the police in an effort to quell the disturbances.
The Ministry of Defense, for its part, has issued a warning about possible takeovers of public and private institutions such as the Lima Water and Sewage Service or television antennas.
Likewise, at least ten teams of the Lima Fire Department have gone to extinguish the fire in an office building in Plaza San Martin, in downtown Lima, near the Palace of Justice, as reported by the radio station RPP.
The building, to which the Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, has gone to supervise the fire extinguishing tasks, has suffered the detachment of its façade due to the fire. The Interior Minister assured that it is still unknown how the fire started, ruling out that a tear gas bomb thrown by the police was the cause of the fire.
The Peruvian National Police (PNP) has denounced attacks against the forces of law and order as well as the destruction of public and private patrimony, reason for which it would have proceeded to the «legal use of force, guaranteeing the respect of Human Rights».
In addition, it has called for «calm and peace», asking protesters that the right to protest is not stained with acts of violence, as expressed by the police body in a statement released on the social network Twitter.
So far, according to the latest report, 22 police officers and 16 civilians have been injured in clashes in the marches in Lima as well as in other parts of the country during the day on Thursday, as reported by ‘La Republica’.
PERUVIAN ‘PREMIER’ HIGHLIGHTS THE PROFESSIONALISM OF THE PNP Peru’s Prime Minister, Alberto Otarola, on Thursday highlighted the professionalism and prudence of the Peruvian National Police (PNP) during the protests in Lima.
«Despite the serious attacks that our Police has suffered and continues to suffer, it has not fallen into provocation and has responded to these attacks with firmness, professionalism and prudence and will continue to do so all these days to come and that we have these marches,» said the Peruvian ‘premier’ in a televised message.
In this sense, Otárola has assured that the Government remains in charge of the rights of Peruvians after the demonstrations. «The government is in charge of the situation and is taking care of the fundamental rights of citizens,» he said.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
