Police fired tear gas to try to subdue thousands of protesters who poured into the Peruvian capital Thursday, many from remote Andean regions, calling for the ouster of President Dina Boluarte and the return to power of her predecessor, whose removal last month launched deadly unrest and cast the nation into political chaos.
The demonstrators gathered in Lima's historic downtown scuffled with security forces who barred them from reaching key government buildings, including Congress, as well as business and residential districts of the capital.
"We're surrounded," said Sofia Lopez, 42, as she sat on a bench outside the country's Supreme Court. "We've tried going through numerous places and we end up going around in circles." There was visible frustration among protesters who had hoped to march into the Miraflores district, an emblematic neighborhood of the economic elite. In a Miraflores park, a large police presence separated the antigovernment protesters from a small group of demonstrators expressing support for law enforcement.
Anger at Boluarte was the common thread Thursday as protesters chanted calls for her resignation and street sellers hawked T-shirts saying, "Out, Dina Boluarte," "Dina murderer, Peru repudiates you" and "New elections, let them all leave." Protests were also held elsewhere and video posted on social media showed demonstrators trying to storm the airport in southern Arequipa, Peru's second city. They were blocked by police and one person was killed in the ensuing clashes, Peru's ombudsman said.
"When there are tragedies, bloodbaths outside the capital it doesn't have the same political relevance in the public agenda than if it took place in the capital," said Alonso Cardenas, a public policy professor at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University in Lima.
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