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
February fifth warmest on record, extreme rain in Europe: EU monitor
- Global temperatures last month were 1.49C above preindustrial times
- Temperatures and precipitation varied widely in Europe
PARIS: The world logged its fifth hottest February on record, with western Europe drenched by extreme rainfall and widespread flooding, the European Union’s climate monitor said on Tuesday.
Global temperatures last month were 1.49C above preindustrial times, defined as the 1850-1900 period before large-scale fossil fuel use drove climate change.
Temperatures and precipitation varied widely in Europe.
The average temperature in Europe was among the three coldest in the past 14 years at -0.07C.
But western, southern and southeast Europe experienced above-average temperatures, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Colder conditions were experienced in northwest Russia, Baltic countries, Finland and its Scandinavian neighbors.
“Wet and dry conditions across the continent showed a pronounced contrast: much of western and southern Europe was wetter than average, whereas the rest of the continent... was mostly drier than average,” the service said in its monthly report.
The United States, northeast Canada, the Middle East, Central Asia and east Antarctica had warmer-than-average temperatures.
- Need for global action -
Sea surface temperatures were the second highest for the month of February.
In the Arctic, the average sea ice extent was at its third lowest level for the month at five percent below average.
In the Antarctic, the monthly sea ice extent was close to average for February — a “sharp contrast to the much below-average” levels observed over the past four years, Copernicus said.
“The extreme events of February 2026 highlight the growing impacts of climate change and the pressing need for global action,” said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates Copernicus.
“Europe experienced stark temperature contrasts,” Burgess said.
“Exceptional atmospheric rivers — narrow bands of very moist air — brought record rainfall and widespread flooding to western and southern Europe,” she said.
Human-driven climate change intensified torrential downpours that killed dozens and forced thousands of people from their homes across Spain, Portugal and Morocco between January and February, according to the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network of climate scientists.
