Cultural traditions prevailed, at least for a while, in the Peruvian region of Puno, where several protesters approached a group of policemen armed with shields and, instead of exchanging stones and blows as in recent weeks, they threw buckets of water and carnival foam at each otherdespite being the area of the country where the most violent clashes have been recorded since December, with several deaths.
The unexpected episode occurred in front of a Puno police station, where a group of people began to throw water and foam at the policemen who were lined up in front of the police station, who instead of using their batons responded by also wetting the citizens.
When some of the women from the mountains who were marching threw foam at the policemen, who covered themselves with their acrylic shields, laughing at the situation, some uniformed men entered the building, but not to sound the alert but to look for buckets of water with which to respond in the game.
Unlike the harsh confrontations that have been taking place since December 7, when Congress removed then-President Pedro Castillo, and the streets of many regions of the country, Puno among the most, were filled with violence, this time the confrontation resulted in a traditional carnival game, as seen in a video published this Wednesday by the portal RPP Noticias
Done, I hope Puno has understood that the country deserves peace and progress and this joy is not a flash in the pan. Let’s build together a better Peru. @congresoperu pic.twitter.com/56Dv5lq9gZ
— ?Peru World (@perumundo_) February 22, 2023
Some protesters were even “arrested” by the police as a joke and taken to the police station where they were drenched, unleashing laughter even from passers-by, who for a while returned to see the carnival games that mark highly respected traditions. in the region.
The game and the jokes are part of a representation of the carnivals of Puno that are usually held these days, and which, however, was not being celebrated, at least until this Wednesday, due to the protests in this part of the country.
It is the first time, since December 14 of last year, that a non-violent relationship between the police and the protesters can be seen in Puno, one of the points where there was strong repression of the protests to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and members of Congress to hold early elections.
In these protests, more than 60 deaths were registered throughout the country, between direct victims of the repression and collateral cases registered in the roadblocks. Approximately half of those victims were recorded in the Puno region, in the south and one of the poorest in Peru.
It was a kind of cultural truce, a carnival bubble, the traditional pagan festivity that ends this Wednesday, with Ash Wednesday. The conflict in Peru continues without a solution.
