Peruvian families mourn protest dead after worst violence in decades

The outbreak of violence is the worst the Andean country has seen in over 20 years.

Peru has been roiled by protests since the abrupt ouster of leftist President Pedro Castillo in early December, with a total of 40 people killed, almost half of them in the city of Juliaca, Puno, on Monday (January 9), including one police officer.

Hundreds of people in the city paid tribute to the dead by carrying coffins through the streets before their burial along with photos of the faces of the victims, flowers, Peruvian flags, and banners blaming the new government for the violence.

Some protesters were heard shouting "Dina assassin," in reference to recently-installed President Dina Boluarte.

Others carried symbolic black flags.

The region of Puno, which borders Bolivia, has been the epicentre of the most recent protests.

The violence has proved a severe test for Peru's democracy and is the most severe since the late 1990s when the country was gripped by a conflict between the rebel group Shining Path and the state, which left 69,000 people dead or missing over two decades.

Protesters are calling for the resignation of Boluarte, quick general elections, a new Constitution and the release of Castillo, who was ousted and arrested for "rebellion" after trying to illegally shutter Congress.

On Wednesday, a mission from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) met Boluarte, whose Cabinet survived a confidence vote in Congress on Tuesday (January 10), to assess the crisis.

IACHR representative Edgar Stuardo Ralon told reporters his team would listen to civil organisations and victims' relatives before announcing their findings on Friday.

Boluarte, facing a preliminary investigation by state prosecutors over the deaths, said in a statement after the meeting that the government would give the commission all the support needed to find out what had happened.

Peruvian police and armed forces have been accused by human rights groups of using deadly firearms and launching tear gas canisters from helicopters.

The army says, for its part, that the demonstrators have used weapons and homemade explosives.

Castillo is serving 18 months of pre-trial detention on charges of rebellion, which he denies.

On Monday at least 38 people also had been injured and hospitalised in Juliaca, the ministry added in a statement published on Facebook.

In Juliaca, near the banks of Lake Titicaca in Peru's southern Puno region, protesters took cover behind large metal plates and road signs and threw rocks at police using improvised slingshots as gunshots were seen in the background.

Other footage showed people with severe injuries in a crowded in Carlos Monge Medrano hospital.

An unidentified injured local in the hospital said he took his camera to film the clashes in the street when a police officer shot him in the foot and fell on the floor.

The protests resumed last week after a holiday lull.

Reuters