After Congress voted to remove Pedro Castillo from power, Peru’s police arrested Castillo.
The National Police of Peru stated in a tweet that officers had “intervened”, but it has since been deleted.
One photograph showed a man wearing a blue jacket and sitting on a couch. It was apparently Mr Castillo. However, his eyes were blacked out.
He was described as “former president Pedro Castillo” in the tweet.
According to the AP news agency, Congress voted to replace Mr Castillo with Vice President Dina Bouluarte.
Ms. Boluarte (a 60-year old lawyer) has been sworn into office as interim president. She is Peru’s first woman leader.
With 10 abstentions and 10 votes, the representatives voted to remove Mr Castillo as a representative for “permanent moral impairment”.
Just before the vote, Castillo announced that he would be installing an emergency government. He also called on the next group to create a new constitution.
He said that he would be ruling by decree, and ordered a curfew to begin on Wednesday night.
He also proposed changes to the leadership of the police, judiciary and constitutional courts.
The head of Peru’s military, as well as four ministers responsible for economic affairs, resigned in response.
Castillo took his actions while his adversaries in Congress were moving towards a third attempt at his removal from office.
Independent government agency, the Ombudsman’s Office, stated that Castillo should step down and be presented to judicial authorities prior to the vote.
Mr Castillo, a peasant-turned-president, has denied allegations of corruption against him, saying they are based on “hearsay statements by people who, seeking to lighten their own punishments for supposed crimes by abusing my confidence, are trying to involve me without evidence”.
Six cases are being investigated by federal prosecutors against him, the majority of which concern alleged corruption.
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