New Delhi
The Peruvian Police on Saturday (January 21) raided a university in the capital city of Lima and arrested more than 200 anti-government protesters on the charges of theft and trespassing. According to a statement issued by the San Marcos University, a group of masked protesters stormed the campus late Friday and expelled security personnel after taking their vests and other equipment. Alfonso Barrenechea, who works with the crime prevention division of the prosecutor's office, told a local radio station PPP that 205 people were arrested for illegally trespassing on the university's premises and for allegedly stealing electronic goods, a report by news agency Reuters said early Sunday.
Peru's interior minister Vicente Romero, meanwhile, told the Canal N news channel that cops intervened after university authorities said some of the squatters were committing crimes, news agency AFP reported.
Visuals shared by Reuters showed police tanks entering the university, breaking through the gates to allow the personnel inside. The police were then seen escorting multiple protesters to buses. Some of the protesters tried to stop the buses from leaving by blocking the road.
"The police entered with force, they have taken out all the demonstrators who were inside the university, they have entered with tear gas bombs, they assaulted people. I arrived here and saw some demonstrators crying," San Marcos University student Rosmely Torres told the news agency. "We are outraged by what we are going through, it is insurgency," a protester told Reuters.
The incident at the university comes as the violent anti-government protests in Peru continue. The demonstrations have been going on since early December last year when President Pedro Castillo was ousted and Dina Boluarte took charge of the top post. The protesters have demanded the resignation of Dina Boluarte, snap elections and a new constitution for Peru.
Forty-six people have died in clashes with security forces so far and nine have died in accidents linked to the protests, the Reuters report said.
On Friday, in the Cusco region, the gateway to Machu Picchu, Glencore's major Antapaccay copper mine suspended operations after protesters attacked the premises. Issuing a statement, Cusco's cultural authorities said, "in view of the current social situation in which our region and the country are immersed, the closure of the Inca trail network and Machu Picchu has been ordered, as of January 21 and until further notice".
(With inputs from agencies)
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