LIMA: In the most recent violent spasm of a month-long political crisis, protesters attempting to storm an airport clashed with security personnel, resulting in the deaths of at least 17 people on Monday in Peru.
According to a representative of the local ombudsman's office, this new bloodshed occurred in Juliaca, a city in Puno's southeast.
According to the official, five of the roughly 40 people who were injured in the clashes died from their injuries, bringing the total number of fatalities to 12.
These protesters, like others who have been taking place over the past month, were calling for the resignation of President Dina Boluarte. Boluarte took over after Pedro Castillo, the president at the time, was ousted and arrested on December 7.
In this nation plagued by years of political instability, Castillo's removal after he attempted to dissolve Congress and begin ruling by decree and was the subject of multiple corruption investigations has sparked nationwide clashes that have lasted for weeks.
Protesters who are upset about Castillo's removal want Boluarte to step down immediately and hold fresh elections. They were moved up from 2026 to April 2024 already.
With these new deaths, the country's clashes caused by Castillo's ouster have now claimed the lives of 39 people.
A Calos Monge Hospital official told a Peruvian television station that the people who died Monday in Juliaca had been shot.
One protester, who did not wish to be identified, told AFP, "The police are shooting at us."
He continued, "We ask Dina to resign." Accept that others don't want you.
"What is taking place is that Peruvians are killing each other. In a desperate plea for peace, Juliaca Mayor Oscar Caceres said, "I ask for calm."
The new president's chief of staff, Alberto Otarola, said that thousands of protesters had come to the airport on Monday and that about 2,000 of them tried to storm the facility with gun powder and makeshift weapons.
On Saturday, demonstrators attempted to take over the Juliaca airport, which is protected by police and soldiers.
Numerous members of the indigenous Aymara people live in Juliaca, which is in the Puno region on the border with Bolivia. Since the most recent crisis started, protests against the government have been very popular in Puno. On January 4, an all-out strike was declared.
Over the new year's break, protests against the Boluarte government took a break but resumed that day.
Protesters were obstructing roads in six of the country's 25 departments as of Monday, including tourist-friendly areas.
Boluarte is a leftist like Castillo and served as his vice president. However, she is derided by many Indigenous people as a traitor who does not support their cause.
Another thing that happened on Monday was that the government said it was preventing the former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, from entering Peru because it thought he was trying to get involved in Peru's affairs.
Morales, the first Indigenous president of his country, has expressed support for the protests against Boluarte, particularly in the border region of the ethnic Aymara Puno.