Peru peasants arrive in Lima for major anti-Boluarte protest

Around 200 members of Peru's Chanka Indigenous group have arrived in capital Lima to join an imminent anti-government protest. 

They are among thousands of demonstrators demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, the dissolution of parliament and immediate fresh elections.

"Listen Dina, the Chankas are coming," chanted the members of this ethnicity with a reputation for being warriors. 

Some say they will stop at nothing to make their voices heard.

"If a Peruvian is not able to give his life for his country, then he's not Peruvian," said Abdon Felix Flores Huaman, 30, an unemployed psychologist and father of a small daughter.

"Some brothers have already lost their lives. We're also ready to give ours ... so that my child has better opportunities, so she is not a marginalised Indian."

The Chankas began their journey on Sunday afternoon from the mountain city of Andahuaylas in the southern Apurimac region.

A day into their journey, police blocked them in the city of Humay, still some 200 kilometres south of Lima.

They eventually managed to reach the capital at dawn on Tuesday after a journey that had lasted 40 hours.

They are now waiting for the protest to begin.

Thousands of protesters, mostly from the south of the Andean country, have been arriving in Lima in recent days to lend their weight to a social mobilisation that began on December 7 following the ousting of former president Pedro Castillo, himself of Indigenous origin.

The subsequent clashes between protesters and security forces have left 42 people dead, while the government has declared a state of emergency in parts of the country, including Lima, in a bid to calm the unrest.

In the city of Humay, protesters shouted slogans denouncing the "traitor" and "murderer" Boluarte.

She was the vice president under Castillo and is from the same left-wing party.

But she succeeded Castillo when he was arrested after attempting to dissolve parliament and rule by decree as he sought to fend off an impeachment vote.

He has been the subject of several corruption investigations since coming to power in June 2021.

READ MORE: Peru declares state of emergency in Lima over protests

Take Lima 'peacefully'

"We know they want to take Lima, given everything that is coming out on social media, on the 18th and 19th (Wednesday and Thursday)," Boluarte said in a speech at Peru's Constitutional Court.

"I call on them to take Lima, yes, but peacefully and calmly. I am waiting for them in the seat of government to discuss their social agendas."

But she warned that "the rule of law cannot be hostage to the whims" of a single group of people.

Demonstrators from all over Peru have arranged to meet in the capital to protest together, but despite various announcements, it is still difficult to determine how many people will arrive in Lima.

Protesters have maintained almost 100 roadblocks throughout eight of Peru's 25 departments.

Security forces cleared one roadblock on the Panamericana Norte motorway in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Boluarte said other roadblocks would be dismantled in the coming hours.

The political and social crisis shows the rift between the capital and the poor provinces that support Castillo and who saw his election as revenge against contempt from Lima elites.

"It's a struggle for the Chanka nation. It is a struggle of Quechuas and Aymaras against a state that, after 200 years of being a republic, continues to marginalise us. This is a fight against racism," said farmer German Altamirano, 75.

READ MORE: Peru's Boluarte rejects calls to resign but apologises for protest deaths