Rio de Janeiro, Jan 23, (dpa/GNA) – The public prosecutor’s office in Peru, on Sunday said it has ordered the release of the majority of protesters arrested during clashes with police in a Lima university earlier in the weekend.
The prosecutor said 192 of the 193 protesters arrested were released, with one person to remain in custody due to an arrest warrant.
Initial reports, said more than 200 people were arrested in the clashes.
Those arrested were accused of illegally entering the campus of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, chief prosecutor Alfonso Barrenechea was cited as saying by broadcaster RPP Noticias on Saturday.
The report, said the protesters came to the capital from the cities of Puno and Cusco in the south, to join protests against interim president Dina Boluarte.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Peru, called on the police to show proportionality after the operation, as dozens of people have died since the protests began in December.
The demonstrators, many from the impoverished south of the country, are demanding Boluarte resign, the dissolution of Congress and the release of imprisoned ex-president Pedro Castillo.
Castillo, a former village school teacher, wanted to pre-empt a vote of no confidence in December and dissolved Congress, in order to do so. Congress then removed him from office.
He was arrested on charges of an attempted coup d’état, and remains in pre-trial detention.
His supporters have repeatedly taken to the streets since the arrest.
Around two dozen people have already died in clashes with the police.
GNA