Tension in Peru amid coronavirus lockdown
Tension on the streets of Lima, Tuesday, as riot police tried to remove hundreds of street vendors.
Many vendors fought back… but were pulled away despite their efforts.
Authorities took the forceful approach amid a nationwide lockdown to combat the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
With over 230,000 cases of the virus and over 6,500 deaths in Peru, President Martin Vizcarra on Monday said the crisis was unprecedented.
''We knew this disease was going to generate a most serious crisis in our history, never before seen and that it was going to affect health, economy, employment, that is to say, the whole of society.”
Peru’s economic activity sank over 40 percent year-on-year in April, its worst-ever percentage drop in output, as the lockdown slammed the brakes on key industries, like mining.
Vizcarra said he would work to create more than a million new jobs.
For people whose family members are sick, or those who’ve had relatives die, an income is especially needed.
(RELATIVE OF PATIENT WHO DIED FROM COVID-19, CLAUDIA OCHOA) ''Right now I have looked for money to be able to recover my father's body. He’s my father so I will spend the money, but right now various people are not holding funerals for their relatives.”
Peru’s unemployment doubled between March and May… intensifying the coronavirus crisis gripping the country.
