Twenty people were killed, most often by bullets, in protests in favor of elections after the dismissal of former President Pedro Castillo.
by Amanda Chaparro ( Cuzco (Peru), correspondence)
Peru is experiencing a disturbing escalation of violence. At least twenty people died, a majority killed by shot, victims of police and military repression, since the start of protests in favor of new elections and the dissolution of the congress. These mobilizations follow the dismissal of former President Pedro Castillo after his failed coup attempt on December 7. The list of victims, often very young, continues to increase. About fifty people are still hospitalized, some in serious condition.
The crisis does not seem to be resolved. The congress rejected, Friday, December 17, the proposal to advance the date of the general elections. The deputies did not manage to agree on the deadline of December 2023 to organize a ballot.
By declaring the state of emergency on Wednesday – a measure allowing the army to participate in order maintenance operations – the government intended to recover control of the country, paralyzed by road blockages and mobilizations In 18 of the 24 departments and by closing five airports. But the situation quickly degenerated. Thursday, the city of Ayacucho, in the south, was the scene of a particularly bloody repression which led to the death by bullets of eight people, adding to the seven killed a few days earlier in the Apurimac region, A little further south.
war scenes
In the afternoon, half a million demonstrators, according to the defender’s defender’s office, entered the airport tracks, which had stopped operating the day before, and clashes with strengths of the order took place. Surrounded by the crowd, “the soldiers were ordered to threaten to shoot, then to shoot in the air, but later there were outstretched shots,” said Eliana Revollar, of the defender of the people’s defender, to AFP. Videos also show soldiers shooting demonstrators in different areas of the city. At the same time, public and private buildings were burnt down by demonstrators. M Me revollar asked “a criminal investigation”. She also denounced the overflight of helicopters from which were thrown tear gas, causing the first two dead of the day.
followed real war scenes. The health centers were quickly overwhelmed. Tents have been drawn up outside the regional hospital to receive dozens of bales injured. Thursday evening, a curfew was decreed in fifteen provinces of the country.
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