Peru's Andahuaylas airport has been closed and one person has been killed in violent protests that have claimed lives, the BBC reported, citing authorities.
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Fifty police officers and workers were surrounded by demonstrators at the airport, the transport ministry said in a statement.
The protests erupted after the impeachment of President Pedro Castillo on Wednesday.
Peru's aviation authority Corpac, which is part of the transport ministry, said the airport had been severely affected since Saturday afternoon, with attacks, vandalism and fires set.
It reported that 50 airport workers and police were surrounded in the airport terminal, and added that some people were taken hostage.
Peru's national police later reported that police officers had arrived at the airport and that one officer had been injured.
Peru’s newest president, Dina Boluarte, gave in to protesters’ demands early on Monday, announcing in a nationally televised address that she will send Congress a proposal to move up elections.
Boluarte’s decision came after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets around Peru for another day on Sunday to demand that she resign and schedule elections to replace her and Congress.
Boluarte said she will propose the scheduling of general elections for April 2024.
Many of those demonstrating in the ongoing political crisis are demanding the release from custody of Pedro Castillo, the centre-left president ousted on Wednesday by politicians after he sought to dissolve Congress ahead of an impeachment vote.
Hundreds of people also protested in Lima, the capital, where riot police used tear gas to push protesters back.
The protests rocking Peru heated up particularly in rural areas, strongholds for Castillo, a former schoolteacher and political newcomer from a poor Andean mountain district.
Protesters set fire to a police station, vandalised a small airport used by the armed forces, and marched in the streets. ■