The incidents occurred last Friday during protests by residents against mining companies in the district of Chaviña, Peru.
At least ten people were injured and a mining camp was destroyed during a clash between protesters and police officers in southern Peru, local media reported this Saturday.
The incidents occurred last Friday during protests by residents against mining companies in the district of Chaviña, in the province of Lucanas, in the Ayacucho region.
In this regard, the director of the health network of the town of Cora Cora, Hernán Pretell, informed the RPP Noticias station that the ten people were treated at the local hospital for injuries caused by pellets.
The station added that sources in that town informed it that at least 20 vehicles from the Apumayo mining unit were also burned.
According to the information, the residents of the provinces of Lucanas, Paucar Del Sara Sara and Parinacohas, in Ayacucho, are protesting against the mining companies Apumayo SAC and Ares SAC, which they accuse of polluting the headwaters of the region’s water resources.
In this regard, National Police General José Zapata pointed out that the agents did not use firearms or long-range weapons, but tear gas to disperse the protesters, who threw stones and blunt objects.
In this regard, the newspaper El Comercio noted that some 500 people “invaded and set fire to” the facilities of the Apumayo gold mining company, where they destroyed a camp with administrative offices, vehicles and other facilities.
The manager of Apumayo, Guillermo Shinno, assured the newspaper that the protesters do not live in the area of influence of the mine and said that his company defends “dialogue with the communities.”
The mining company added, in a statement, that its workers had to leave the area for security measures and asked the population to dialogue and not fall into “provocations or half-truths by third parties.”
El Comercio assured that, later, another group of protesters reached the Breapampa mine and burned a mechanical maintenance workshop, although they later withdrew from that place.
After these clashes, the head of the Ombudsman’s Office in Ayacucho, David Pacheco, reported that the protesters decided to lift their paralysis during the night of Friday, after meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
The residents and local authorities demand the definitive closure of the Apumayo, Inmaculada (Ares), Breapampa and Pallancata mines, while the Prosecutor’s Office seeks to identify those responsible for the attack on the mining facilities. (I)
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