Peru protesters converge at Congress to seek 'kidnapped' Castillo's release

Crowds of supporters of Peru's ex-president Pedro Castillo have converged on Congress despite a state of emergency declared in an effort to halt sometimes deadly protests triggered by his ouster last week.

"We must fight. Pedro Castillo is president," said protester Milagros Quispe, holding her five-month-old baby in her arms outside the Congress building on Thursday, where demonstrators have gathered daily since lawmakers removed the leftist Castillo from office on December 7.

"I am an ignorant woman who knows her rights," said Lucy Carranza, a 41-year-old housekeeper. "We are not terrorists. The president has been kidnapped. There is no other word for it."

Castillo, meanwhile, awaited a Supreme Court decision on whether to free him or extend his detention for 18 months.

He was removed from office and arrested last week after he tried to dissolve the legislature and announced he would rule by decree. He did this to try to dodge an impeachment vote.

Protest leaders have said they will stage new demonstrations again on Friday, demanding Castillo's release, Dina Boluarte's resignation, Congress' closure and new elections.

The judge said Castillo refused to accept the summons, so his case was assigned to a public defence lawyer.

The hearing was supposed to take place on Wednesday when Castillo's initial seven-day detention expired but was postponed by 24 hours after the former leader's lawyers argued they had not received the necessary documents related to his case from prosecutors.

Castillo has called his arrest unjust and arbitrary and called on the security forces to "stop killing" protesters.

Speaking outside the prison in Lima where Castillo is being held, his niece Vilma Vasquez complained that his political opponents had mounted a smear campaign against the ex-president even before he took office last year, including trying to link him to the Shining Path Maoist guerrillas that wrought chaos to Peru in the 1980s and 90s.

"From the first day that he took office and even during the (election) campaign, already we were (called) terrorists," said Vasquez.

"They didn't let him govern, we were thieves, we were corrupt. We're going to stay here until he leaves" prison.

READ MORE: Hundreds of tourists stranded at Machu Picchu amid Peruvian protests

People from Amazon jungle join protests

Castillo's arrest has sparked a week of violent protests by supporters, who have clashed with security forces in unrest that has left eight people dead and around 200 injured, the Health Ministry says.

Dozens of Castillo's supporters have camped outside the prison where he is being held in Lima to demand his release.

Indigenous people from Peru's Amazon jungle regions in the centre and southeast have also joined the protests.

Boluarte, the former vice-president who was quickly sworn in as president after Castillo's arrest, on Wednesday, declared a nationwide state of emergency for 30 days and exhorted congress to approve a constitutional reform to bring forward elections to December 2023.

New elections are one of the main demands of pro-Castillo demonstrators.

Four airports have been shut down due to the protests, while more than 100 roads throughout the country remain blocked.

Hundreds of tourists have been left stranded at Peru's most popular attraction, the 15th-century Inca citadel Machu Picchu, after the train service to the site was suspended.

READ MORE: Latin America leaders ask Peru to protect ousted leader Castillo