The offices of the Peruvian newspaper El Sol de los Andes in the city of Huancayo, in central Peru, were attacked by a mob protesting the newspaper's publication of stories linking police with criminal groups, according to the newspaper Crónica Viva.
On Tuesday, Nov. 29, the protesters broke down doors and burned a banner and editions of the newspaper because of the Nov. 25 publication of a story connecting four police officers with a criminal band that allegedly has killed 15 taxi drivers with a motive of robbing them of their cars, according to RPP.
Assistant newspaper director Gino Márquez said police did not immediately respond to the newspaper's call for help, and that five journalists were verbally attacked but managed to escape a beating, according to La República. The aggression was attributed to families of the police officers accused in the newspaper.
"They tried to intimidate the journalists who work here, and they even went to find the son of one of the journalists who wrote the stories...and followed him," said Paul O'Brien, newspaper director, as quoted by the news agency EFE.
The Peruvian Journalists Union condemned the police's lack of response to the emergency call for help and the threats and intimidations against the journalists.
