Armed men were positioned at strategic points in the capital and the nearby port of Callao where 10 million people live.

The curfew measure, announced Monday evening by the president of the radical left, Pablo Castillo, created the surprise, the violence of the day before having taken place outside the capital.

"We had information that there were going to be acts of vandalism. This is the reason why we took this measure," Defense Minister José Gavidia said on Tuesday.

The Head of State must meet at 3:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. GMT) with parliamentarians to "analyze the proposals and measures necessary to find a solution to the crisis facing the country", according to a press release from Parliament.

The curfew, much criticized on social networks, was little respected on Tuesday by many inhabitants of the capital wishing to go to work, under the benevolent eye of the police and military.

Few cars were circulating, however, compared to Lima's usual heavy traffic, and there was a lack of public transport and open food shops.

A hotel cleaner told AFP she paid 30 soles ($8) to get to work by taxi from the southern suburb of Villa El Salvador.

The police set up roadblocks on the roads of Lima as part of the curfew introduced in the Peruvian capital on April 5, 2022 Ernesto BENAVIDES AFP

“It was a very late and improvised measure,” complains Cinthya Rojas, a hospital nutritionist at a bus stop in the municipality of Agustino, in eastern Lima.

Interprovincial bus lines were suspended, but domestic and international air connections were operating normally, according to Jorge Chavez Airport.

In several districts of the capital, residents expressed their dissatisfaction by banging on saucepans - a traditional form of protest in Latin America - to challenge the government's measure, AFP journalists noted.

"Disproportionate"

The former left-wing presidential candidate, Veronika Mendonza, whose party had collaborated with the head of state at the start of her term, expressed her "total rejection of an arbitrary and disproportionate measure".

Demonstrations and roadblocks continued in a few towns across the country.

"Curfew to restore order, an authoritarian measure by Pedro Castillo's government which demonstrates its ineptitude and its inability to govern," political analyst Luis Benavente told AFP.

Trucks blocked by protesters on the Pan-American highway that crosses Peru, April 4, 2022 Ernesto BENAVIDES AFP

Mr. Castillo, a 52-year-old former teacher, decreed the curfew a week after escaping a second impeachment procedure in Parliament where the opposition castigates his lack of governance and accuses those around him of corruption.

Clashes between protesters and police took place Monday in several regions of Peru on the sidelines of a strike by transporters against the rising cost of fuel and tolls, as well as foodstuffs.

This is the first social conflict that the president has faced since his election in July 2021.

The Pan-American highway, which connects South America to the United States via Central America, was blocked to the many trucks that use it and many toll booths were set on fire.

The rallies were accompanied by scenes of looting of shops in the south and east of the country, according to television footage.

"I appeal for calm, for serenity. Social protest is a constitutional right but it must be exercised in compliance with the law", launched President Castillo by establishing the curfew "from 2:00 a.m. to 11:59 a.m. Tuesday evening in order to protect public safety" and "restore peace and order".

The government abolished a fuel tax last week in an effort to appease the situation and also decreed a 10% increase in the minimum wage which will reach the equivalent of 277 dollars from May 1.

A woman crosses a tollbooth set on fire by protesters in Ica, southern Peru, on April 4, 2022 Ernesto BENAVIDES AFP

Insufficient measures for the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP), the country's main union, which called for new rallies on Thursday.

The curfew comes as the Peruvian economy struggles to recover from the long confinement imposed by the coronavirus pandemic and many residents of Lima survive from informal work and street trade.

© 2022 AFP