Four people were killed and 39 injured on Thursday in Ayacucho, in Peru’s southern Andes, as protesters clashed with soldiers and police, the local health authority confirmed. The country’s Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights issued a statement calling on the armed forces to “immediately stop the use of firearms and helicopter-launched tear gas.” Videos on social media from the scene of the protests in Ayacucho showed soldiers using firearms on the streets of the city as protesters threw stones and stormed the airport. The country’s new government on Wednesday declared a nationwide state of emergency for 30 days, deploying the army on the streets and suspending the right to assemble and free movement. The spike in violence comes on the seventh day of protests against Peru’s new president, Dina Bolluarte, with protesters calling for the replacement of all lawmakers and the reinstatement of Castillo, who was forced out after trying to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. attempt to avoid impeachment on corruption charges. Boluarte has attempted to send 16 ministers to different regions of the country in an attempt to open dialogue and calm the violent protests that have rocked the country. A night curfew was ordered in 15 of the country’s 24 regions. “Neither violence nor radicalism will end a legal and legitimate government,” Boluarte said earlier Thursday. “There is no room for fear, but for courage, unity and hope of a country that deserves more than its politicians.” She urged lawmakers to “make the best decisions to shorten the deadlines and make the necessary reforms” as they met in a plenary session to discuss her bill to move elections forward by two years to April 2024. A newborn baby, who was being taken by ambulance to Lima for surgery, died due to roadblocks south of the capital, the director of the national children’s hospital, Zulema Tomás, told national radio. Another child was in serious condition due to a bullet wound sustained during the protests in Ayacucho. Six people died in traffic accidents and other incidents linked to dozens of roadblocks across the country, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman said. More than 200 civilians and 200 police officers were injured in the past week of riots, he added. Violent clashes broke out between thousands of protesters and police in central Lima on Thursday night. Many had traveled from various corners of Peru to the capital to join an anti-Congress march, among them Berta Tsukula, who came from Puno, on Peru’s southern border with Bolivia, to support Castillo. “He has been unfairly removed and we will not allow that,” he told the Guardian. “In the end, there is no middle ground,” said Omar Coronel, professor of sociology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. “What we have is a polarization between two blocs of people, some who are not necessarily with Castillo but seem like they are … because they oppose the convention.”
