Stone-throwing protesters clashed with police on Friday in fresh demonstrations calling for the resignation of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, while several hundred tourists remained stranded near Machu Picchu.
Civil unrest since the ouster of Boluaarte’s predecessor, Pedro Castillo, in early December has killed 45 people and prompted the government to impose a state of emergency in violence-hit areas.
On Friday, security forces used slingshots to fire tear gas at protesters in the flashpoint southern city of Arequipa.
For the second day in a row, a mob tried to storm an airport runway, which has been closed and put under the protection of security forces.
Clashes also broke out in the northern area of La Libertad, despite appeals by Boluaarte for calm.
Protesters chanting anti-government slogans also clashed with riot police in the capital Lima.
The airport in the popular tourist destination of Cusco reopened, prompting passengers to queue for flights.
But rail services to the famed Machu Picchu remained suspended, leaving at least 300 people stranded in the town closest to the Inca citadel and pleading for evacuation.
“We are unsure whether a train is going to come to pick us up,” Alem Lopez, a passenger from Chile, told AFP.
In December, about 200 stranded tourists were airlifted out of the area by helicopter.
Protesters have been trying to keep up the pressure on the government, defying a state of emergency that now covers about a third of the country.
44 civilians and a police officer have died in this violence.
urban-rural divide
Thousands marched in a large anti-government rally in the capital Lima on Thursday, which also saw clashes with police.
“Listen Dina, the people reject you,” they chanted, while others called for the president to be assassinated.
Castillo, a former rural school teacher, was removed from office and arrested on 7 December after attempting to dissolve the country’s legislature and rule by decree, amid several corruption investigations.
The crisis also reflected the widening gap between the capital and the rural provinces, which supported Castillo and saw his election as revenge for Lima’s contempt.
Rural villagers looked to Castillo, who comes from Peru’s Andean region and has indigenous roots, as one of the people running the country.
Boluarte, who had been Castillo’s vice president, replaced him, but even though he is from the same leftist party, Castillo supporters rejected him, even calling him a “traitor”.
Boluaarte appealed for dialogue in a message broadcast on state television.
“I will never tire of seeking peaceful ways to move the country forward,” she said late Thursday, adding that “the acts of violence in December and now January will not go unpunished.”
But his words fell on deaf ears.
“This government does not represent us,” said Ricardo Mamani, 47, who said he traveled more than 40 hours to participate in the march in Lima.
“We are demanding once and for all that this woman (Boluarte) step aside so that people can live in peace,” he said.
Mamani, who wore black to mourn those killed in the demonstrations, urged international human rights organizations to intervene.
He said, ‘There is no one to protect us.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)