Peruvian Soldiers Kill 3 Protesting Prices

Security forces shot and killed three rioters Thursday during unrest over austerity measures that sent the cost of food soaring by 300% or more.

Soldiers patrolled the capital city of Lima in armored cars, brandishing automatic weapons and wearing ski masks. The violence broke out after Prime Minister Juan Carlos Hurtado Miller announced economic austerity measures Wednesday night in a bid to ease the worst economic crisis in Peru’s history. On Thursday, the government announced it will float Peru’s currency, the inti.

The price of gasoline, a government monopoly, jumped from 7 cents a gallon to more than $2. Private bus lines halted runs Thursday, stranding thousands of people. Commuters fought one another for room in the back of pickup trucks.

Police and soldiers opened fire and killed a man and a woman among about 130 protesters who were burning rubber tires to block a highway 10 miles east of Lima.

In Ancon, a beach town 25 miles north of Lima, a Peruvian marine shot to death a man involved in a fight with other shoppers at a food market.

Tension in the capital had mounted in the days leading up to Hurtado’s announcement. Many shops doubled their prices even before his address. Bread, noodles, beans, sugar, cooking oil and milk disappeared from store shelves.