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The Peruvian man who was killed during major anti-government protests in Lima on Wednesday was shot dead by police, the country’s police chief told reporters on Thursday.
General Oscar Arriola said the suspected shooter was an officer from the criminal investigation directorate.
The 32-year-old demonstrator, identified as Eduardo Ruiz by interim president Jose Jeri, was the first person to die in weeks of anti-government protests led by the youth collective Generation Z.
At least 113 others were injured after thousands of people — 84 police officers and 29 civilians — took to the streets of Lima to protest a spike in extortion rackets and contract killings, as well as what many Peruvians see as an inept, corrupt political class.
The protests began with a peaceful march, but clashes broke out after some protesters tried to breach the security barrier around Congress as night fell, an AFP correspondent said.
Others in the crowd hurled stones and lit fireworks, to which police in riot gear responded with tear gas.
The National Coordinator of Human Rights, an NGO, had earlier said that Ruiz may have been shot dead by a plainclothes police officer.
Jeri, who was previously parliamentary speaker, took over as president six days ago after his immensely unpopular predecessor Dina Boluarte was impeached by Congress for her failure to tamp down crime.
On Thursday, the right-wing Jeri asked Congress to give him special powers to enact emergency security laws, without having to put them to a vote.
Peru is experiencing an unprecedented wave of violence, with dozens of bus drivers, musicians and other victims killed for refusing to pay protection money to gangs such as Peru’s Los Pulpos and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.
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