Lima: Violence at a rally in Peru’s capital on Wednesday left dozens injured, said President Jose Jeri, whose accession days ago has failed to stamp out angry protests against the country’s political class.
Youth-led demonstrations brought thousands of Peruvians to the streets in Lima and several other cities, frustrated by the authorities’ failure to resolve a worsening crime crisis.
“Update: 55 police officers injured” and “20 civilians injured,” Jeri said on social media, updating earlier figures from the clashes near Congress in central Lima.
The South American country has been rocked by protests for weeks, and lawmakers voted on Friday to impeach then-president Dina Boluarte, blamed by critics for the crisis.
Jeri, a right-wing politician who had served as leader of Congress, became interim president until elections in April.
Wednesday’s protests were called by a youth-led collective, artists’ groups and labor unions.
As night fell, some protesters tried to breach the security barrier around Congress, an AFP correspondent said. Some in the crowd also hurled stones and lit fireworks.
Police in riot gear responded with tear gas.
“I think there is general discontent because nothing has been done,” 49-year-old freelancer Amanda Meza told AFP while marching toward Congress.
“There’s no security from the state,” she said.
“Extortion, murders... have grown massively in Peru.”
Boluarte’s impeachment followed protests by bus companies, merchants and students over shakedowns by criminal gangs — and attacks on those who refuse to pay protection money.
Extortion and contract killings have been a feature of daily life across the South American country.
Gangs like Los Pulpos and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, which operates across Latin America, hold people from all walks of life for ransom.
Jeri has attempted to take the heat out of the protests by vowing to “declare war” on organized crime.
Dozens injured in Peru anti-crime protest after president impeachment
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Dozens injured in Peru anti-crime protest after president impeachment
- Youth-led demonstrations brought thousands of Peruvians to the streets in Lima and several other cities
TikTok finalizes deal to form new American entity
TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years.
The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX to form the new TikTok US joint venture. The new version will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for US users,” the company said in a statement Thursday. American TikTok users can continue using the same app.
Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO. He will work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew.
The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the US if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company.
In addition to an emphasis on data protection, with US user data being stored locally in a system run by Oracle, the joint venture will also focus on TikTok’s algorithm. The content recommendation formula, which feeds users specific videos tailored to their preferences and interests, will be retrained, tested and updated on US user data, the company said in its announcement.
Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX are the three managing investors, who each hold a 15 percent share. Other investors include the investment firm of Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies. ByteDance retains 19.9 percent of the joint venture.
