After the impeachment of Peru’s president and protests that left at least eight people dead, a 30-day emergency was declared in Peru.

It allows police to search homes without permission, and it limits certain freedoms such as the right to assembly.

Demonstrations continue since the removal of Pedro Castillo, former president, in an impeachment vote that took place on 7 December.

Castillo was a leftist who was elected in 2021. He was accused of trying to illegally dissolve Peru’s congress during the country’s most recent political scandal.

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On Wednesday, the prosecution stated that they wanted Mr Castillo to be held for 18 months in pre-trial detention. He has been charged with rebellion as well as conspiracy.

Peru‘s supreme court met to review the request, but suspended the session until Thursday.

Dina Boluarte was the former vice president of Castillo, but this has caused division among other Latin-American leaders, and angered many Peruvians.

Eight people, mostly teenagers, were killed in police clashes. Rights groups claim that at least six of them were shot to death.

Protesters blocked motorways and set fire to buildings, invading airports.

Alberto Otarola, defense minister, stated that “we have agreed to declare an emergency throughout the country due to acts vandalism or violence.”

“This calls for a strong response from the government.”

“We don’t want a return to that painful past”

Boluarte, President of the Republic of Boluarte, has called for peace and suggested that elections could be held within a year – four months prior to her April 2024 proposal.

Originally, the vote was scheduled for 2026 when Mr Castillo’s term would have expired.

Ms Boluarte stated, “The only thing that I can tell you brothers and sisters (is) to stay calm.”

“We’ve already been through this in the 80s and 1990s, and we don’t want to repeat that painful experience.”

Her comments were reminiscent of the years in which the communist party’s rebellion presided over many car bombings, assassinations.

This group was responsible for nearly half the estimated 70,000 deaths and disappearances due to rebel groups and a brutal government counterinsurgency response.