An angry mob set fire to a patrol vehicle a day after 17 civilians were killed in clashes with authorities.
The government in Lima on Wednesday confirmed the death of the first police officer since protests against the ouster of president Pedro Castillo began last month. Protesters in the southern city of Juliaca ambushed a patrol vehicle after 17 local civilians were killed a day earlier, in a confrontation with police.
The burned body of officer Jose Luis Soncco Quispe was found near the patrol car that was attacked on Tuesday morning, Peru Ministry of Home Affairs speak. His partner, Ronald Villasante Toque, was injured and taken to hospital in Lima. In a telephone report to headquarters, he said more than 300 people have launched a “barbaric attack” on the police car.
Initial reports also suggested that assailants seized the officers’ armor and weapons, including two service pistols and an AKM assault rifle. However, police later said weapons were found inside the burned patrol vehicle.
Juliaca is located in southeastern Peru, near Lake Titicaca and the border with Bolivia. On Monday, at least 17 civilians were killed and 30 others injured in clashes with the Peruvian National Police (PNP) near the local airport. At the funeral for the dead on Wednesday, protesters decorated their coffins with handwritten notes, declaring “Dina killed me with bullets,” referring to Acting President Dina Boluarte.
Interior Minister Victor Rojas said the deaths were due to lawful self-defense officers from around 9,000 who he claimed tried to storm the airport and attack police with makeshift guns and explosives. It has become “uncontrollable crowd,” Rojas said, accusation Opponents want to create “Chaos on Chaos.”
Castillo was arrested and impeached on December 7 after attempting to dissolve Congress and call early elections. Lawmakers accused him of sedition and promoted vice president Boluarte in his stead. Castillo supporters see this as an illegal coup against democracy. Peru has had five presidents in the past five years, with Congress citing “lack of morality” provide a constitution to removed from the office who are not to their liking.
Tweet from prison on Tuesday, Castillo said history will remember Peruvians “killed for defending the country from a coup dictatorship,” and that “Terrorism is the last bullet of a regime cornered by its people.”
At least 47 people have died in connection with the protests, according to official government figures published on Tuesday. This includes the officer, 39 protesters, as well as seven civilians who were killed in “traffic accidents involving roadblocks protest.”
Police General Maximo Ramirez de la Cruz speak Last week, more than 300 police officers were injured in clashes with protesters, 19 of whom were hospitalized.
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