Demonstrations Peru

In Peru's most violent protest in years, at least 300 workers, demonstrating against President Alberto Fujimori's possible reelection bid and demanding more jobs, smashed windows and raided a storage facility on the presidential palace grounds in Lima.

With a pall of smoke and tear gas hanging over Lima's colonial downtown and a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Peru's democracy, President Alberto Fujimori took the oath of office for an unprecedented third term Friday as protesters clashed with a cordon of riot police. Outdoor ceremonies preceding the inauguration in the capital were marred by nearby fighting between demonstrators and about 40,000 riot police.

More than 15,000 opponents of President Alberto Fujimori on Thursday staged one of the biggest protests yet against his decade in power, rallying on the eve of his inauguration for an unprecedented third term after a tainted reelection. The peaceful overnight outpouring against Fujimori's inauguration united workers, students and Peruvians from all walks in a raucous, torchlit rally, marked by bottle rockets screaming over a downtown plaza and drums pounding loudly in the cool night air.

More than 15,000 opponents of President Alberto Fujimori on Thursday staged one of the biggest protests yet against his decade in power, rallying on the eve of his inauguration for an unprecedented third term after a tainted reelection. The peaceful overnight outpouring against Fujimori's inauguration united workers, students and Peruvians from all walks in a raucous, torchlit rally, marked by bottle rockets screaming over a downtown plaza and drums pounding loudly in the cool night air.

Armored vehicles ringed Lima's historic center and police stopped buses in the Andean highlands as President Alberto Fujimori worked to thwart a huge protest planned for Friday, his inauguration day. Buses carrying thousands of Peruvians headed toward the capital to take part in the series of demonstrations due to peak when Fujimori takes his oath of office. Fujimori's inauguration will mark the beginning of his third five-year term.

Maoist guerrillas blew up a police van Friday, killing four policemen and wounding five during a one-day strike, police sources said. The rebel-called strike, which left millions of Peruvians struggling to find transportation to get to work, was part of the Maoist Shining Path's strategy to shift its activity from the traditional highland strongholds to the capital. Friday's deaths brought the toll in the weeklong offensive to 16.

Riot police wounded five people and arrested at least 270 protesters when a nationwide general strike in Peru flared into street clashes and induced leftist guerrilla violence, officials and strike leaders said. The 48-hour general strike was launched to protest government economic policy. Strikers and student sympathizers blocked main arteries leading into Lima with bonfires and rocks but were driven off by police using tear gas and firing water cannons, reporters said.

Police arrested 40 striking miners on Wednesday after firing tear gas and birdshot to disperse rock-throwing demonstrators protesting the government's newly unveiled austerity measures, a police spokesman said. Union leaders say 98% of the country's 60,000 miners have been on strike since Oct. 17 to press for better wages and conditions.

Thousands of Peruvians gathered in Lima for a "march for peace" against violence by the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrilla movement, while transport in the city was crippled by a general strike called by the guerrillas. Army troops and police filled the streets to prevent disturbances during the strike called by Shining Path in support of its nine-year-old war to overthrow the government.

Riot police used tear gas and water cannon Wednesday to break up two demonstrations by hundreds of bank workers on opposite sides of government plans to nationalize Peru's financial institutions, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries in the second day of protests since President Alan Garcia announced the plans on July 28.

Armored vehicles ringed Lima's historic center and police stopped buses in the Andean highlands as President Alberto Fujimori worked to thwart a huge protest planned for Friday, his inauguration day. Buses carrying thousands of Peruvians headed toward the capital to take part in the series of demonstrations due to peak when Fujimori takes his oath of office. Fujimori's inauguration will mark the beginning of his third five-year term.

In Peru's most violent protest in years, at least 300 workers, demonstrating against President Alberto Fujimori's possible reelection bid and demanding more jobs, smashed windows and raided a storage facility on the presidential palace grounds in Lima.

Protesters in several cities staged a second day of demonstrations against President Alberto Fujimori, whose government is beset by high-level resignations and a spying scandal. The government is accused of revoking Israeli-born Baruch Ivcher's citizenship because his television station aired reports implicating the military in torture and corruption.

It had been 10 years since the students of Peru took to the streets en masse. The campus environment of the late 1980s and early 1990s discouraged peaceful protest, as universities were battlefields in the war on terrorism. The absence of activism more recently reflected public support for President Alberto Fujimori's fight against leftist insurgents, runaway inflation and traditional politics.

Left-wing terrorists freed 225 exhausted hostages from the Japanese ambassador's residence late Sunday as a "Christmas gesture" but declared they'd continue to hold scores of Peruvian and foreign VIPs unless the government made major concessions. It was the biggest release of captives since the standoff, now in its sixth day, began.

Maoist guerrillas blew up a police van Friday, killing four policemen and wounding five during a one-day strike, police sources said. The rebel-called strike, which left millions of Peruvians struggling to find transportation to get to work, was part of the Maoist Shining Path's strategy to shift its activity from the traditional highland strongholds to the capital. Friday's deaths brought the toll in the weeklong offensive to 16.

Thousands of Peruvians gathered in Lima for a "march for peace" against violence by the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrilla movement, while transport in the city was crippled by a general strike called by the guerrillas. Army troops and police filled the streets to prevent disturbances during the strike called by Shining Path in support of its nine-year-old war to overthrow the government.

Fifty people were injured when police fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse students and striking Peruvian miners at the national university in Lima, police said. The demonstrators were protesting the government's failure to resolve a five-week-old national miners' strike that has crippled foreign exchange earnings. Anti-riot police entered the campus of San Marcos University to quell protesters, who were throwing rocks at vehicles and blocking roads, a police spokesman said.