The entire Plaza Mayor of Huamanga, Ayacucho, in one voice: "We are fighters, we are not terrorists". | Photo: Twitter @whuacasi

Lima, December 18 (RHC)-- Residents of Ayacucho, in southern Peru, coordinated on social networks, held a "cacerolazo" to protest the deaths and dozens of wounded that government repression against protesters demanding the closure of Congress has been leaving behind.
 
On multi-media platforms -- including Facebook and WhatsApp -- users of that region made a call to join the popular protest.  "For our dead and wounded, no minute of silence", reads the call.

The capital of the Ayacucho region became the most lethal area of Peru's protests, demanding the calling of general elections, and to several residents the events of the day before evoked the bloody past of human rights violations that occurred in this region.

"We are returning to those painful years," said Rocio Leandro, leader of the Ayacucho Defense Front, an organization that presents the demands of the population to the authorities.  She was referring to the bloody period from 1980 to 2000 when Peru's internal armed conflict took place, in which there were serious human rights violations and abuses by uniformed officers.

The demonstrators are also calling for the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and of the Parliament, the most unpopular state entity in the country, according to all polls.

In the streets of the historic center of Huamanga, bonfires could be seen on several corners over the weekend.  Numerous groups of demonstrators clashed with police in the midst of a wave of protests in various parts of the country, which so far have left at least 20 dead and more than 200 injured in less than a week.

This Saturday, residents of the town began to bid farewell to their dead, victims of government repression.