Police Clash With Peruvian Protesters
L I M A, Peru, July 28 -- Peruvians furious with the inauguration of Alberto Fujimori as president set government buildings ablaze today and chanted “the dictatorship will fall!” Tear gas and smoke turned the skies over the capital dark amid pitched street battles that left dozens injured.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators — some peaceful, but others throwing rocks and breaking windows — filled the streets. Inside the heavily guarded Congress building, a beaming Fujimori ignored the unrest sparked by a May 28 re-election many said was fraudulent and celebrated the beginning of an unprecedented third five-year term. It was also his 62nd birthday.
Fujimori wore the red-and-white presidential sash and raised his arms in a victory sign as opposition congressmen shouted insults and waved signs that read “New Elections Now.”
As Fujimori began his inaugural address, they walked out in protest of a vote tainted by charges of widespread fraud.
At least 80 people — police and demonstrators — were injured in the protests, four of them with bullet wounds, hospital officials said. Smaller protests also erupted in Arequipa, Peru’s second-largest city, some 450 miles southeast of Lima.
One of those hurt was a bloody-faced foreign journalist who was taken away in an ambulance after being hit in the face by a flying tear gas canister. It was unclear who the correspondent worked for.
As Fujimori swore to respect the country’s constitution, riot police outside fired bullets and tear gas into the crowds. A fire burned out of control in the lobby of the former Education Ministry, one of the tallest office towers in downtown Lima. Later, protesters’ fires gutted a state bank building and the building housing the National Elections Board.
Black smoke poured from the buildings and mixed with pungent tear gas. At one point a jetfighter screeched overhead as black-clad riot police and demonstrators battled on the streets below. Some 40,000 police had been called out.
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