Lima: the capital felt the chaos that exists in the rebellious regions (La República [Spanish] - 1/20/2023)
Lima: the capital felt the chaos that exists in the rebellious regions (Spanish)
The crisis worsens. The massive march against Dina Boluarte ended in a wave of violence. At the end of this article, there were eighteen wounded, including civilians and troops, a building in San Martín square was on fire, the confrontations continued without truce on both sides and the government did not offer any mea culpa.
Crossing of the avenues Nicolás de Piérola and Abancay. Protesters seek to reach Congress. The police prevent it. That's where the confrontation begins. Photo: John Reyes/The Republic
Diego Quispe
"Move forward, don't back down, move forward, damn it!" the protesters yelled .
It's 5:20 in the afternoon, there are thousands, but they are surrounded.
At the crossroads of the Cusco and Lampa shreds, two blocks from the Plaza de Armas, a few meters from the Government Palace, the atmosphere is covered in tear gas. A group of protesters insists that they can pass the police fence and reach Pizarro's house, where Dina Boluarte is, the President who appeals for silence and takes refuge in what the police and military forces can do to repel the mobilizations in her against.
The explosions sound. It's tear gas again. Desperate people run, smelling and sharing vinegar – it serves to avoid the burning of gas – towards the Colmena Metro station. Furious protesters yell again: “Don't back down! Go!". And they break the sidewalks, looking for stones. They take the Lampa shred again and throw tite troops respond: gases again.
And then a wounded person falls. She has a bleeding eye. “He's been shot! Ambulance, ambulance!" shouted those around him. A nurse cleans the blood, but it is useless.
Meters further on, at the intersection of Colmena and Abancay Avenues, an officer was also wounded. They help him, his companions back off. Minutes before, two Army tanks, which were behind these troops, launched tear gas canisters.
This lit the prairie. But it was not the only reason for the disturbance.
Crowd. Protesters surrounded San Martin Square, in the Lima Fence. Photo: Luis Gallardo URPI-LR
The organizers of the march had announced that the route would start from Plaza Dos de Mayo, going through Wilson and Arequipa avenues, towards Kennedy Park, and from there the return would have as its destination the Paseo de los Héroes Navales, in the exteriors of the Palace of Justice.
And it was not like that: there was division.
Various delegations that had come from the regions and districts of Lima went to the Plaza San Martín, which was surrounded. It was impossible for them to take it. Then, they surrounded it, heading for the Colmena station, in the direction of the University Park.
Face to face. Protesters in front of police around San Martin Square. Photo: Luis Gallardo URPI-LR
As usually happens in most protests, when the demonstrators arrive at the intersection of Nicolás de Piérola and Abancay Avenues, and the armed forces prevent them from continuing, to prevent them from reaching the Congress of the Republic, tempers begin to flare, and a brawl explodes.
With the subdivision, a crowd followed the route, heading to Miraflores; another, on the other hand, was concentrated in the center of Lima, the epicenter of the conflict.
At 6:15 in the afternoon there were four injured policemen. The wounded on the other side were still not accounted for. But not so far away, at the crossing of the Azángaro and Puno shreds, Army reservists and supporters of Antauro Humala confronted a police block, reduced them with sticks, the troops responded with tear gas. But they were few. Another setback. At the height of the Geographical Society of Peru, they had no choice but to form a wall of shields and allow the protesters to pass in the direction of Abancay Avenue.
Less than ten minutes pass and there is another protester down. In the Cusco strip, a man wearing shorts and a dark polo shirt has a bleeding face. “The police started, we were all pushing, we just wanted them to let us pass, but they threw tear gas canisters at us and that's where he fell!” laments a woman who watches the wounded man with terror.
The Rescue Police approached to help the subject, who was lying on the asphalt.
In parallel, near the Plaza San Martín, the first aid brigade carries another person. His left eye bleeds, they pour water on it. It is not sufficient. There are desperate screams. No exit.
They are, suddenly, the tensest minutes: two blocks from the Plaza de Armas, the protesters intend to break the police siege; near Abancay avenue, more civilians succumb, and others throw stones, and the troops respond, already as a mechanized reaction, with tear gas bombs and rubber pellets, at a short distance – the damage is worse at a few meters. Nobody gives up.
6:39 in the afternoon, Abancay avenue, more troops arrive. Early on, the PNP page announced that nine thousand troops were going to be sent to repel the mobilization. That's how it went. Trucks arrive from the Expressway. Tanks appear through the Cercado de Lima.
A few blocks away, a citizen, identified as Luis, who came to protest from San Juan de Lurigancho, is carried by his companions: he has an injury to his left foot due to being shot by a pellet.
Reporters also pay the piper for the chaos: a journalist and a cameraman are attacked in the shreds of Carabaya and Cusco. Another colleague suffers violence from the far-right group La Resistencia.
The sun is about to go down and the protests have spread to other districts, such as Jesús María and Miraflores.
Night is falling, it transpires that President Dina Boluarte and her ministers will give a message to the nation. In the Palace, they argue. Outside burns Troy. A flame of fire expands.
A building near the Plaza San Martín, in the Carabaya jirón, catches fire. It's past eight at night, ten units of firefighters arrive. They seek to calm the fire. However, they are not successful. The flames grow. Speculations as to who was to blame as well.
Horrific. The fire consumes an old building in the Carabaya jirón. The owner accuses the Police; the minister denies it. Photo: Luis Gallardo URPI-LR
"I have videos. They threw tear gas bombs at us,” says a protester, identified as Edwin, who denounces that the fire started when the police threw a bombardment.
Another person, who claims to be the owner of the property, also blames the Police. “We were on the fourth floor and a tear gas bomb fell, we went down to pour water on ourselves, and we saw that something started to burn. Since everything is made of wood, it caught on quickly. I cannot pay for it alone,” he denounced.
The Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, in a press conference, ruled out that this was the fault of the Police.
Chaos. Clashes continued while the fire was taking place in the Carabaya mansion. Photo: Antonio Melgarejo/The Republic
The Red Prestacional Almenara de EsSalud, at the close of this edition, reported that up to that moment seven injured people had arrived at its facilities, coming from the demonstrations in downtown Lima.
While eleven troops arrived at the Police Hospital.
At the national level, the balance is worse: sixteen civilians and twenty-two police officers injured and one person dead, according to the Executive.
The protesters' demands remain: they demand the resignation of Dina Boluarte and a new Congress. Boluarte invokes dialogue. But how to summon it without any mea culpa?
Boluarte says no more. She stays in the Palace. It's 9:43 pm and outside, by Plaza San Martín, the sky is red.
Tags: #Lima #Protests #NationalStrike #MarchaDeLos4Suyos
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