Peru protesters vow to 'paralyse' Lima as anti-Boluarte march looms

Protesters from all over Peru have continued to converge in capital Lima, determined to make their voices heard during two days of planned demonstrations against the government of President Dina Boluarte, as one demonstrator died in clashes with police in the country's south.

"We are coming to make our voices heard. We are tremendously forgotten," villager Edwin Condori, 43, from the Cusco region, told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.

Thousands of protesters from rural areas are descending on Lima this week to keep up the pressure against the government, often defying a state of emergency declared to try to maintain order.

The mass demonstrations will repeat the call for Boluarte to resign, the dissolution of parliament and fresh elections, while counterprotests already under way have rejected those demands, a sign of divisions wracking the Andean country.

With tensions mounting, many poor and Indigenous demonstrators were already making their presence felt on Tuesday in the capital, where police used smoke canisters against marchers who gathered ahead of the larger mobilisations.

Peru's General Confederation of Workers called a strike on Thursday.

"We want Dina Boluarte's resignation. We don't feel that she represents us," said Jesus Gomez.

"We have come in an organised way to take over Lima, to paralyse Lima, to be heard," added Gomez, an agricultural engineer from Chumbivilcas in the Cusco region.

But the president warned protesters that "the rule of law cannot be hostage to the whims" of a single group of people.

The South American country has been rocked by over five weeks of deadly protests since the ouster and arrest of her predecessor Pedro Castillo in early December.

The latest death brings the number of people to have died in clashes between protesters and security forces to 43, largely in the country's south and east, according to Peru's human rights ombudsman.

The 35-year-old woman, who died in clashes with police in the Andean town of Macusani, "was admitted to emergency services without vital signs," said San Martin de Porres hospital where she was taken. At least one person was injured.

The mob additionally burned a police station and judicial headquarters, according to local media, with officers rescued by helicopter.

Peru's protests began in its Andean south, with the Puno region, home to the historically neglected Indigenous Aymara community, serving as the epicentre.

REASD MORE: Peru peasants arrive in Lima for major anti-Boluarte protest

Rival marches

Demonstrators from all over Peru have arranged to meet in the capital to protest together, but despite various announcements, it is still difficult to determine how many people will arrive in Lima.

By Tuesday afternoon, dozens of people were already marching through Lima's streets to Plaza San Martin, the historic epicentre of demonstrations.

Residents of the northern city of Cajamarca carried signs that read "National Insurgency." Some held "rondero" whips of the type used by local patrols in rural areas.

"Dina, please, resign so that this town calms down because the town is not going to give up," Antonia Riveros, a 55-year-old native of Huancavelica, said.

Meanwhile, a "march for peace" was also under way in Lima, with dozens of members from community groups and political parties wearing white T-shirts in rejection of the protests against Boluarte.

"We do not want violence in our country. I know that now there is a group that disagrees with the current government, but nevertheless, it is not the way to carry out protest," 56-year-old merchant Cesar Noa told AFP.

Protesters have maintained almost 100 roadblocks in several parts of Peru.

Security forces cleared one roadblock on the Panamericana Norte highway early on Tuesday morning.

Boluarte said others would be dismantled soon.

President Castillo was removed from office and arrested on December 7, after attempting to dissolve the country's legislature and rule by decree, amid multiple corruption investigations.

Boluarte, who was Castillo's vice president, succeeded him. But despite Boluarte belonging to the same left-wing party, Castillo supporters have rejected her, even accusing her of being a "traitor."

READ MORE: Peru's Boluarte rejects calls to resign but apologises for protest deaths