After praying the Angelus with the faithful gathered at noon on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope invited them to ‘pray for an end to the violence in Peru’, because, he said, ‘violence extinguishes the hope of a fair solution to the problems’.

I encourage all parties involved to embark on the path of dialogue between brothers of the same nation, with full respect for human rights and the rule of law,’ the Bishop of Rome added.

Finally, Francis said that ‘I join the Peruvian bishops in saying ‘No to violence, wherever it comes from! No more deaths! There are Peruvians in the streets!

On January 21, more than 200 opposition students and marchers were arrested in Peru during a raid on the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, on topo of the 378 people who had been arrested since the start of the protests last December against the interim government following the coup that toppled democratically-elected President Pedro Castillo.

The prisoners, who allege mistreatment, said they were handcuffed and forced to lie face down, searched and then taken, each with a policeman at their side, on several police bus rides to the Lima police headquarters and other locations.

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