A stampede in a nightclub in Lima in Peru caused the death of at least 13 people on Saturday evening who tried to flee the police, who came to enforce the curfew imposed due to the Covid-19 epidemic, announced on Sunday authorities.
Some 120 people attended the anniversary party relayed on social networks despite the ban on gatherings during the weekend, when the police broke into the establishment in Los Olivos, a popular district from the Peruvian capital.
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" Faced with the intervention of the police, who did not use any type of weapon or tear gas canister, the participants in the party tried to escape by the only front door and, in the stampede , found themselves wedged between the door and the stairs, ”the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
13 dead and 3 injured
In addition to the 13 dead, three other people were injured as well as three police officers who tried to rescue people trapped in the nightclub. About twenty people were arrested.
The victims were between 20 and 30 years old, according to information published by local media. Among them are currently twelve women and one man, said Peruvian Minister of Women, Rosario Sasieta, who went there and visited the wounded hospitalized.
She demanded " the maximum sanction for the owners of the discotheque, who are in reality responsible " for this tragedy. " This should never have happened, we are in the midst of a pandemic, there is a health emergency ," she said on RPP radio.
The police operation was triggered an hour before the start of the night curfew, after neighbors complained about the party. Some witnesses refuted the authorities' version, saying that the police had used tear gas to evacuate the establishment.
Peru is the third Latin American country most affected by the new coronavirus after Brazil and Mexico, with 27,453 dead and 585,000 cases of contamination for a population of 33 million inhabitants.
Faced with the spread of the disease, the government has limited gatherings there and imposed a weekend curfew.