Despite 67 protester deaths and an approval rating of 15%, Boluarte likely to hang on to power in Perú
On Good Friday, April 6. Around 4:30 in the afternoon, police officers burst into the Plaza de Armas in the city of Ayacucho in southern Peru. Equipped with helmets, clubs and shields, they surrounded the regional government headquarters. Without explanation, the riot police pushed into a group of artists who were working on a floral carpet in an act of peaceful protest. As they scattered the artists with force, police trampled the message spelled out in flowers on the ground of the plaza — the Fifth Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill”. The Ayacucho artists were making the carpet in homage to the ten people who died in the city during protests on December 15, 2022, as a result of police and military repression. One of them, Christopher, was 15 years old and died when a police bullet went through his thorax. Albert Barrios, one of the artists present, told Pirate Wire Services that after a few minutes of confrontation with protesters, police decided to leave and the artists were able to finish their work in the plaza. But in the evening, when the traditional Good Friday procession had concluded, officers returned and “began to push all the people guarding the carpet.” “They erased the whole message,” he said. They walked, scraping the floor with their shields. The population started shouting ‘murderers’ at them.”Barrios said undercover police officers photographed the artists who made the carpet. “If something were to happen to those of us who made it or to the people who went out to protest, it is the fault of this government”, he said, “in Peru, there are no guarantees of a peaceful life”.
0 Comments