Protesters teargassed after president calls for truce

LIMA (AP):

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Peru’s capital and were met with volleys of teargas and pellets amid clashes with security forces just hours after President Dina Boluarte called for a “truce” in almost two months of protests.

The anti-government protest Tuesday was the largest – and most violent – since last Thursday, when large groups of people, many from remote Andean regions, descended on the capital to demand Boluarte’s resignation, immediate elections and the dissolution of Congress.

“We can’t have a truce when she doesn’t’ tell the truth,” Blanca España Mesa, 48, said of Peru’s president. Even though her eyes were watering from the teargas, España Mesa said she was “happy because a lot of people came today. It’s as if people have woken up.”

Before last week, most of the large anti-government protests that followed the ouster of President Pedro Castillo took place in remote regions of Peru, largely in the country’s south, exposing deep division between residents of the capital and the long-neglected countryside.

The crisis that has sparked Peru’s worst political violence in more than two decades began when Castillo, Peru’s first leader from a rural Andean background, tried to short-circuit the third impeachment proceeding of his young administration by ordering Congress dissolved on December 7. Lawmakers impeached him instead, the national police arrested him before he could find sanctuary and Boluarte, who was his vice president, was sworn in.

Since then, 56 people have died amid the unrest involving Castillo’s supporters, 45 of whom died in direct clashes with security forces, according to Peru’s ombudsman. None of the deaths have been in Lima.

On Tuesday, police fired round after round of teargas as they blocked the passage of protesters who seemed more organised than before. The smell of teargas permeated the air and could be felt even a block away as people leaving work suddenly had to cover their faces to try to diminish the sting.

“Murderers,” yelled the protesters, some of whom threw rocks at the police.