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Image posted, Reuters
Protesters sit in the capital Lima after police killed two protesters
Peru’s interim president Manuel Merino resigned from office a day after two people died during protests against his government.
Merino, the former congressman, assumed the presidency less than a week ago.
Merino replaces President Martín Vizcarra, who was removed from office Monday on allegations of receiving bribes, allegations Vizcarra denies.
Politicians had called for Merino’s resignation after police used excessive violence against protesters who took to the streets to protest against him.
Twelve of his newly formed cabinet ministers resigned Sunday to protest police brutality and Merino’s handling of the crisis.
Congress failed to choose a replacement for Merino when it met on Sunday, when it refused to assign a team led by writer and human rights activist Rossio Silva Santesteban to assume the presidency.
A new list is being drawn up that includes an interim president and politicians representing the various political spectra to lead the country.
Why did the protests break out?
Tens of thousands of protesters, many of them young, took to the streets in recent days to protest the removal of former President Vizcarra.
The protesters accuse Congress of organizing a parliamentary coup. Vizcarra, 57, still has the support of many voters because of his reform efforts.
The protests that took place in Lima on Saturday were generally quiet and peaceful, but clashes broke out at night between police officers and some protesters.
Image posted, fake images
President Merino announced his resignation in a televised speech on Sunday.
News reports say that the police used tear gas and live bullets to arrest the protesters, some of whom threw fireworks and stones at the police.
Two students, Jacques Pintado, 22, and Enti Sutilo, 24, were killed in the clashes.
“I want the whole country to know that I am determined to resign,” Merino said in a televised speech.
There are serious concerns about the exacerbation of the political crisis in Peru, which is facing serious economic difficulties as a result of the Corona virus outbreak.
Peru was one of the first countries in Latin America to impose strict lockdown measures after the outbreak of the epidemic, but nonetheless witnessed a significant increase in the number of HIV infections.
Peru has so far announced 935,000 cases of the virus and more than 35,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, making it the third country in the world in number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants of its population.
Merino was supposed to assume the presidency until July 2021, when the term of the ousted President Vizcarra would end.
Vizcarra has been locked in a bitter fight with Congress, which has been dominated by rival parties, since he took office in March 2018.
Vizcarra denies the charges against him, saying he took bribes worth $ 487,000 while he was governor of the southern state of Mokwigua.
