Police violently raid Lima university and Machu Picchu closed amid Peru unrest

[milestogo]

Source: The Guardian

Scores of police raided a Lima university on Saturday, smashing down the gates with an armoured vehicle, firing teargas and detaining more than 200 people who had come to the Peruvian capital to take part in anti-government protests.

Images showed dozens of people lying face down on the ground at San Marcos University after the surprise police operation. Students said they were pushed, kicked and hit with truncheons as they were forced out of their dormitories.

The police raid on San Marcos University – the oldest in the Americas – is the latest in a series of affronts driving growing calls for the president, Dina Boluarte, to step down after six weeks of unrest that has claimed 60 lives, while leaving at least 580 injured and more than 500 arrested.

Amid the demonstrations and with roadblocks paralysing much of the country, Peruvian authorities on Saturday ordered the closure “until further notice” of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu and the Inca trail that leads to the world heritage archeological site – Peru’s biggest tourist attraction which brings in more than a million visitors a year.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/22/peru-police-make-violent-raid-on-limas-san-marcos-university

[peppertree]

1. Reminiscent of Argentina's 'Night of the Long Batons' in 1966

The recently installed dictatorship - which Lyndon Johnson opposed, and at first refused to recognize - raided the University of Buenos Aires, which at the time was considered "a hotbed of marxists" by right-wingers (and still is!).

Some 400 were arrested, some badly injured. Of this group, 301 university professors then emigrated - including 70 computer scientists who had assembled and were operating the first computer in Latin America.

It took about 50 years for the University of Buenos Aires to recover - and in recent years it's been once again rated as the one of the best universities in Latin America (the best, according to Britain's QS).