Peruvian Congresswoman Flor Pablo has formally requested the appearance of the Prime Minister, Alberto Otárola, the Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, and the rector of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM), Jeri Ramón, for the assault of more than 400 police officers who stormed the university campus on Saturday and arrested more than 200 demonstrators.
«What happened today in San Marcos is unacceptable. Without the presence of the Attorney General’s Office, treating students, citizens and human rights defenders as criminals, lying on the ground and beaten is an abuse. The Minister of the Interior and the Rector of the UNMSM must give explanations», said Pablo in a message published on Twitter.
For this reason, Pablo has presented a motion for Otárola «to be accountable before Congress» and an official requesting the Education Commission to summon the UNMSM rector in the next ordinary session.
Some 400 riot police supported by special forces stormed on Saturday with tanks knocking down one of the access gates to the University of San Marcos and arrested more than 200 people. Shots were fired and tear gas was thrown despite the fact that no resistance was encountered, according to testimonies gathered by the Peruvian press.
Delegations of demonstrators arriving from different parts of Peru to participate in the so-called «Toma de Lima» (Takeover of Lima) in the framework of the protests against President Dina Boluarte, elected after the dismissal of Pedro Castillo, had been staying there since Wednesday and with permission to spend the night.
The Interior Ministry has explained in a statement that the operation is in response to a complaint filed by a representative of the university about the presence of a group of 300 people who entered the campus illegally and violently and who assaulted security workers and expelled them.
Peruvian law establishes that in this type of operation the presence of officials from the Public Prosecutor’s Office is mandatory to avoid abuses against the detainees, but the suspects were violently reduced, handcuffed on the ground and transferred to police premises. The Prosecutor’s Office has reported that prosecutors have been sent to these premises to legalize the arrests and has confirmed the detention of at least three people for terrorism offenses.
CONDEMNS Leaders of the University Federation of San Marcos denounced that the police entered the university residences illegally, violating university autonomy, without a court order or the participation of prosecutors. «This only happened in the times of Fujimorism», they denounced.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on the Peruvian authorities to guarantee the «legality and proportionality» of the intervention.
Meanwhile, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) has expressed its «concern» over the «police incursion, eviction and massive detentions» at the University of San Marcos and has urged the authorities to «account for the facts and guarantee the integrity and due process of all persons».
The National Human Rights Coordinating Committee (CNDDHH) has denounced that the detainees are being forced to sign registry records without the presence of their lawyers or representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Directorate (DIRINCRI).
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
