President Castillo announces the end of the state of emergency amid clashes in Lima

The Peruvian president, Pedro Castillo, announced in Congress the end of the state of emergency that he had decreed at the stroke of midnight yesterday to deal with the wave of protests and riots that had spread throughout the country.

© Archyde.com
Castillo announced the end of the measure ahead of schedule.

“I must inform you that from now on we are going to annul this tenure, it is up to the Peruvian people to calm down,” Castillo said in a meeting with members of his government and congressmen at the legislative headquarters in Lima.

The president then left the legislative palace, according to what he said, to sign the decree that annuls the previous one.

By then, the first clashes had already taken place in the center of Lima between police officers and some of the demonstrators who were trying to advance towards Congress to show their rejection of Castillo and his exceptional measure.

The images on local television showed several injured police officers and police charges under a rain of objects thrown by the protesters and the gas launched by the police officers.

© Sebastian Castaneda/Archyde.com
The violence began before Castillo’s announcement.

controversial decree

The Peruvian government had decreed a curfew This Tuesday, April 5, in the province of Lima and its neighbor Callao in response to the truckers’ strike that has been going on for a week and in which four people have died and another 20 have been arrested as a result of the intensification of the protests.

The protests and blockades originated on March 28 in response to the rise in fuel prices. They began with carriers, but later other workers’ unions joined.

The decree that approved the state of emergency suspended until midnight on Tuesday “the constitutional rights related to liberty and personal security, the inviolability of the home and the freedom of assembly and movement.”

The Ombudsman, Walter Gutiérrez, and the mayor of Lima, Jorge Muñoz, filed a writ of habeas corpus because they judged the measure to be unconstitutional. Congress had also called for the repeal of the state of emergency.

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