Peru’s interim president, Manuel Merino, has resigned less than a week into his new administration, after protesters calling for his removal clashed with the police leaving at least two dead and dozens wounded.
“I want to let the whole country know that I’m resigning,” Mr Merino said in a televised address. He added the move was “irrevocable” and called for “peace and unity”.
Merino assumed the presidency on Tuesday, 10th November after the opposition-dominated Congress voted to remove his predecessor, Martin Vizcarra over bribery allegations.
The law makers accused Vizcarra of poorly handling the pandemic and held up unproven accusations that he took more than $630,000 in bribes in exchange for two construction contracts while he served as the governor of a small province in southern Peru years ago. Vizcarra has denied any wrongdoing.
Protesters have since criticized Merino’s rise to power, accusing the legislature of staging a parliamentary coup. The unrest had been largely peaceful until reports started circulating on social media that security forces had begun “misusing force and throwing tear gas without justification” against young protesters who had gathered in the centre of the capital city of Lima.
Merino’s resignation also followed a wave of politicians urging him to step down, citing the violence against the country’s citizens.
The current head of Congress, Luis Valdez indicated earlier that all of the legislature’s political parties had agreed to ask for the “immediate” resignation.
“We should put above all else the lives of the Peruvian people,” said Valdez, who himself plans to resign.
Valdez had said the legislature would begin an impeachment process if Merino did not willingly leave office.
Hours before crackdown against the protesters, they had gathered in Lima’s central Plaza San Martin, where they spread out a massive Peruvian flag and sang the national anthem.
“The march is not for Vizcarra to return, it is strictly against Merino. We are tired of corruption, of the usual politicians who divide and impose their personal interests,” Cesar Anchante, a University of Lima graduate who marched in a rally told reporters.
Following the crackdown by security forces, human rights groups have reported that 112 people have been hurt and the whereabouts of 41 others remains unknown.
Health authorities said the dead included Jack Pintado, 22, who was shot 11 times, including in the head, and Jordan Sotelo, 24, who was hit four times in the thorax near his heart.
Ousted president, Vizcarra blamed the violence on repression by Merino’s “illegal and illegitimate government”.
“The country will not allow the deaths of these brave young men to go unpunished,” Vizcarra tweeted.
Meanwhile, Peruvian writer and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa also condemned the violence in a video posted on Twitter.
“Two young people were absurdly, stupidly, unjustly sacrificed by the police,” he said. “This repression – which is against all of Peru – needs to stop.”
Peruvians poured onto the streets to celebrate Merino’s resignation, waving flags, chanting and banging pots.
The political shakeup comes as Peru battles the coronavirus pandemic and what is expected to be its worst economic contraction in a century.
