Last Monday, at around midnight, President Castillo decreed a state of emergency and total curfew for the province of Lima and the neighboring province of Callao, an area home to nearly 10 million people. The government set the curfew from 2:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday to “reestablish the order” following week-long demonstrations, which protested rising fuel and food prices. The decree ordered people to stay home and restricted rights to movement.
The announcement quickly drew intense criticism from across the political spectrum. The most recent curfew to stop protests dates back to the presidency of now-jailed former President Alberto Fujimori. María del Carmen Alva, President of the Peruvian Congress and a center-right Acción Popular party member, called Castillo’s decree unconstitutional. Sigrid Bazán from the center-left Juntos por el Perú party asked Castillo to seek permanent solutions, not “midnight announcements.” Similarly, the Ombudsman’s office expressed its opposition to the decree by demanding that the curfew “ceased immediately” because it was an “unconstitutional” and “disproportionate” response to the protests.
Many were still unaware of the curfew on Tuesday morning, while others defied the decree and took to the streets. Without public transport, people struggled to go to work, so many bus stops and metro stations across the capital had long queues. In the afternoon, violent protests started near Congress and other government buildings. Demonstrators chanted “Castillo out,” while banging pots and throwing objects at the police. At around 5:00 p.m., following the intense uproar and lack of support, President Castillo announced the end of the curfew.
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