“They are already pouring gasoline on me,” the policeman who was taken hostage last Sunday by a group of protesters in the La Joya district of Arequipa said through sobs. He said it when the negotiations took place between the authorities and their captors, who asked for the release of 5 detainees in exchange for handing over the non-commissioned officer.
The events broke out in this Arequipa town around noon on Sunday, January 22, when the Police tried to unblock the Panamericana Sur highway, at kilometer 48. In this context, the police intervened with citizens and that was the trigger that led to protesters to go to the El Triunfo police station to demand that they be released. Tempers flared, the protesters demanded and threw stones, the Police responded with tear gas and pellet shots. The confrontation continued, the group threatened to take over the police station and burn it down. They used Molotov cocktails and stones.