(Lima) A demonstrator was killed Wednesday in southern Peru during clashes with the police, which also left several injured, during a new day of demands against the increase in the cost of living, announced in a video the director of the hospital of Ica.
Posted at 4:01 p.m.
“15 injured (12 police officers and 3 demonstrators) were admitted, including one seriously. A civilian had died when he arrived following the clashes,” Carlos Navea said on the Facebook page of the Ica hospital, 300 km south of Lima, where protesters are blocking traffic on the main Pan-American highway. transit of goods between North and South America.
The violence erupted at the end of the morning when the police tried to dislodge several dozen demonstrators who were blocking access to this fertile region where many agri-food companies operate.
The deceased protester was a 25-year-old farm worker, Julio Carbajal, a representative of the region’s many farmers, told local radio.
On Monday, transporters called for a strike across the country to denounce the rise in fuel prices.
In Ica, toll booths were set on fire on the Pan-American highway, leading to the interruption of traffic and the formation of an endless line of trucks.
Left-wing president Pedro Castillo instituted a quickly denounced curfew on Monday evening on the capital and the neighboring port of Callao where 10 million people live.
It was lifted Tuesday in the middle of the afternoon under popular pressure and from Parliament where the opposition is in the majority.
But clashes erupted Tuesday evening in Lima after parades in several neighborhoods under the slogan “Castillo out! “. Public buildings were attacked and businesses vandalized. According to the Ministry of the Interior, twenty-five police officers were injured.
This is the first social uprising facing President Castillo, a 52-year-old former teacher and trade unionist, since his election in July 2021.
The government abolished a fuel tax last week in an effort to appease the situation and also decreed a 10% increase in the minimum wage which will reach the equivalent of 277 dollars from 1er may.
Insufficient measures for the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP), the country’s main union, which called for new rallies on Thursday.