DEMOCRACY protesters occupied parts of Peru’s capital over the last three days in a protest dubbed the “third takeover of Lima.”

The march on the capital — the third since January, hence the name — was organised by trade unions, indigenous rights organisations and peasant and women’s groups.

It swept in on Wednesday and by the end of Thursday was still controlling the Ilava Bridge and other key thoroughfares. The National Unitary Co-ordinator of Struggle, an umbrella group for the democracy organisations, said it will hold further demonstrations in Lima on Saturday.

Crowds chanted “We repudiate the usurper Dina” (Boluarte, the vice-president appointed president when Congress overthrew elected socialist leader Pedro Castillo last December), “Dina, murderess!” and “the people, united, will never be defeated.”

The New Peru party’s women’s sector said it had participated in the demos: “We took to the streets to protest against the dictatorship of Dina Boluarte and her criminal coalition, against Congress and in memory of our murdered brothers.”

Scores of demonstrators have been shot dead since the coup against Castillo — who remains in prison — but the Ombudsman of Peru said it had deployed observers across the city to monitor police behaviour and guarantee the right to peaceful protest.

Even so, the country’s National Human Rights Co-ordinator said plainclothes police were “harassing” journalists covering the protests and lawyers objecting to arrests.

The movement’s demands include the immediate release of Mr Castillo, Ms Boluarte’s resignation and dissolution of the current Congress.

Peruvian feminist Lucia Alvites told the People’s Dispatch socialist website that Peru’s coup coalition was comprised of the far right and military and police chiefs.

Mr Castillo’s election in 2021 as a self-declared Marxist caused panic among the Peruvian elite. He had defeated Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori, who presided over a mass sterilisation programme for indigenous women in the 1990s, and indigenous people have formed the backbone of resistance to the coup against him, as in neighbouring Bolivia during the 2019-20 dictatorship.

Peru is also key to US designs in the area, hosting the founding conference of the US-sponsored Lima Group aiming at regime change in Venezuela in 2017 and eight US military bases. Washington has sent further troops in at the coup government’s request since last month.