LIMA (Reuters) – More than a dozen people were crushed or suffocated when revelers tried to flee a Lima nightclub after being attacked by police for having a party in violation of coronavirus restrictions.
The prosecution said Sunday that 11 of the thirteen dead tested positive for COVID-19.Fifteen of the 23 other people arrested by police who interrupted the underground event on Saturday night also tested positive, President Martín Vizcarra said.
At least six other people were injured, adding 3 policemen, while another 120 people tried to escape the Thomas Restobar club in lima’s Los Olivos community on Saturday night when police arrived to evacuate the party, which neighbors had reported, national police.and government officials said …
Revelers were caught between the only front door, which closes in chaos, and a ladder leading to the street, police said.
Government officials said Sunday that the thirteen affected were 12 women and one older man between the age of 20 and 30, after they first informed those affected as 11 men and two women.
Peru ordered the closure of nightclubs and bars in March and banned long-term family gatherings on August 12 to combat the current rate of COVID-19 infection in Latin America, according to a Reuters count.The curfew on Sunday is also in force.
The club’s owners, a married couple, were arrested, the interior ministry said.
Club representatives were not available without delay for comment.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that police did not use tear fuel or firearms during the break-in, after a circle of relatives of those affected told the local radio station PTR that officials had used tear fuel on site.
Vizcarra condemned the club’s owners and said the clandestine occasions were not unusual and posed a serious public health risk.
“I feel sorrow and unhappiness for the other people and relatives of those who died, but I also have anger and outrage for those who have been irresponsible in organizing such occasions,” Vizcarra said at a public event on Sunday.”Please think, let’s not lose any more lives out of negligence.”
The 60 police officers involved in the raid were also being examined by coronavirus, he said.
Peru recorded a total of 594326 cases of coronavirus on Sunday, more than double the reported number on July 2, while the number of known deaths increased to 27663.
Reporting through Marco Aquino; Written through Cassandra Garrison; Edited through Lisa Shumaker, Chizu Nomiyama and Diane Craft
All quotes were delayed by at least 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of transactions and delays.
© 2020 Reuters. All rights are reserved.