LIMA
\nThousands marched through Peru\u2019s capital Thursday in a large anti-government rally punctuated by clashes with police, while the death toll from over a month of violent protests climbed in the country\u2019s southern regions.
\nSome of the Lima protesters, who are demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and fresh elections, threw stones and bottles at officers in the city centre, AFP reporters saw.
\nThe police were forced to temporarily retreat before they dug in behind riot shields and began deploying tear gas. At least two people were injured.
\nOne building near the central Plaza San Martin caught fire, though it was not immediately clear how.
\nPeru has been rocked by protests since the ouster of Boluarte\u2019s predecessor, Pedro Castillo, in early December \u2014 though violent clashes have largely been isolated thus far to the country\u2019s south and east.
\nIn the southern city of Arequipa, some 1,000 protesters tried early Thursday to storm the airport, but were also repelled by police firing tear gas, local television showed.
\nPeru\u00b4s human rights ombudsman later announced that one person had been killed in Arequipa, adding to two other deaths resulting from clashes on Wednesday and raising the nationwide death toll to 45.
\nThe demonstrators in Lima, who are mostly from Andean regions, set off from several points around the capital with the aim of reaching the heavily-guarded presidential palace by the end of Thursday.
\n\u201cDina listen, the people disown you,\u201d they chanted, while others called for the president to be assassinated.
\n\u201cWe are here, fighting for our just cause. We want them to close Congress,\u201d villager Ayda Aroni, who came from Ayacucho, 330 kilometers (205 miles) southeast of Lima, told AFP.
\n\u201cWe are marginalized, they say we\u00b4re vandals, they call us terrorists, we\u00b4re demanding our rights.\u201d
\n\u201cI am in Lima to defend the country because there is too much corruption. Dina does not represent us. We\u2019re going to stay for a week to continue the demonstrations,\u201d said Demetrio Jimenez, who came from Puno, near the Bolivian border.
\nDemonstrators also tried to once again take over the airport in Cusco, a popular tourist destination, though it was closed; while there were similar protests in regions such as Puno, Huanuco and Tacna.
\nBoluarte called for dialogue late Thursday.
\n\u201cI will not tire\u201d of seeking peaceful ways to move the country forward, she said on state television \u2014 adding that the \u201cacts of violence generated throughout December and now in January will not go unpunished.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LIMA Thousands marched through Peru\u2019s capital Thursday in a large anti-government rally punctuated by clashes with police, while the death toll from over a month of violent protests climbed in the country\u2019s southern regions. Some of the Lima protesters, who are demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and fresh elections, threw stones and bottles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-308702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n