Chaos and protests in the streets of Lima over the appointment of Merino

Peru's national police cracked down on a group of demonstrators in the early hours of Sunday morning who arrived outside the Peruvian Congress, while official sources have informed that President Manuel Merino has no intention of resigning from office despite popular demand.

After the violent events that left at least two people dead, dozens injured and at least 20 missing last Saturday, officials retreated to the vicinity of the Legislative Palace, so that hundreds of demonstrators who were still in the historic centre of Lima advanced peacefully towards it.

At first, the few agents guarding outside the Congress let the young men and women advance, carrying Peruvian flags and throwing harangues accusing the Merino government of Saturday's deaths.

However, after the demonstrators decided to sit down on Abancay Avenue in front of the Congress building, another large police contingent appeared and, without major incident, began firing tear gas at them and the journalists covering the incidents.

Local television showed how the officers arrested and charged at least one person and beat with their shields the journalists who were trying to cover the arrest.

After the charge, a new confrontation took place and the youths had to flee from the police assault, which was also attempted by the mobile units of the TV stations covering the incidents.

"We were ambushed, we are the majority in our nation, we are more than 50% between 18 and 39 years old, we decide who governs and who doesn't ... we are the counterweight to the de facto government," harangued one of the leaders of the demonstrators when the confrontation calmed down.

Merino with the ministers

Although Merino made no statement following the violent events, which led Congress to ask him to resign so as not to have to dismiss him, a photograph showing him meeting with some of his ministers was released in the early hours of the morning.

The photo shows the President-in-Office, who is not looking at the camera, meeting Prime Minister Ántero Flores-Aráoz and several of his ministers, including Interior Minister Gastón Rodríguez, who presented his letter of resignation two hours later.

Shortly before, nearly a dozen ministers had already announced their resignation, which, according to constitutional experts, will not prevent them from taking legal responsibility that corresponds to the entire executive for the accusations that may be made against Merinos, who took over as head of state after Congress dismissed Martín Vizcarra on Monday.

After midnight, rumours also spread about a possible departure of Merinos from the country by plane of the military air group of Lima, annexed to the international airport of the Peruvian capital.

This led Lima Airport Partners, which manages the airport, to say that the terminal will be closed and without flights until dawn, while the company LATAM assured that it had the power to reserve the admission of passengers to its planes.

However, Deputy Rennan Espinoza told local television station America Television that Merino had decided to resign but, during the meeting with his ministers, he was convinced that he should wait until he was dismissed by Congress so that he would not take political and legal responsibility for what happened on Saturday.

Shortly before, after the violent events in downtown Lima, Prime Minister Flores-Aráoz declared that he would remain in office out of "loyalty" to Merino and only if he resigned.

However, the chief of staff indicated that he was trying to contact Merino, but was not answering his phone calls.

Furthermore, he denied knowing that several ministers had already made their resignations public because they had not communicated them to him and that, for this reason, he had called them to an emergency meeting, which was then held with about ten of them.

The President of Congress, Luis Valdez, announced Saturday evening that he had asked the Office of Spokesmen, early Sunday morning, to elect a new parliamentary office and remove Merinos from office because of the violence in Lima.

According to reports from health authorities, police repression during the massive march against Merino's government left at least 63 people injured, including firefighters and health brigades, and at least two dead from buckshot and tear gas fire.

The deposed president Vizcarra said that the deaths of citizens "will not go unpunished" and described the Merino government as "illegal and illegitimate".