A stampede in a nightclub in Lima in Peru caused the death of more than a dozen people on Saturday evening who tried to flee the police, who came to enforce the curfew imposed due to the Covid-19 epidemic, have the authorities announced this Sunday.
Some 120 people attended the anniversary party relayed on social networks despite the ban on gatherings during the weekend, when the police broke into the establishment in Los Olivos, a popular district from the Peruvian capital.
“Stuck between the door and the stairs”
“Faced with the intervention of the police, who did not use any type of weapon or tear gas canister, the participants in the party tried to escape by the only front door and, in the stampede , found themselves wedged between the door and the stairs, ”the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
At least 13 people died during the police operation, the chief of police, General Orlando Velasco, told RPP radio.
Three others were injured as well as three police officers trying to rescue people trapped in the nightclub.
About twenty offenders were arrested during this evening and were placed in detention in Lima. The victims were between 20 and 30 years old, according to information published by local media.
Tear gas?
Some witnesses refuted the authorities’ version, saying that the police had used tear gas to evacuate the establishment.
“It seems that the police entered and threw tear gas canisters. And they locked them up and apparently they were asphyxiated”, accused a local resident on RPP radio.
Peru is the third Latin American country most affected by the new coronavirus after Brazil and Mexico, with 27,453 deaths and 585,000 cases of contamination for a population of 33 million inhabitants.
Faced with the spread of the disease, the government has limited gatherings of people there and imposed a nighttime curfew from Saturday evening to Monday morning.
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