Explainer: Peru in crisis, what's behind the unrest?

STORY: Following a weekend of deadly clashes between police and protesters, Peru's new president on Monday said she would ask Congress to hold elections ahead of schedule - but maybe not soon enough to calm the unrest as the nation moves from crisis to crisis.

President Dina Boluarte said she was seeking elections, but not for at least 15 months, in April, 2024.

Boluarte was sworn in last week after congress ousted former leader Pedro Castillo. Castillo was sacked and arrested for trying to dissolve the legislature and prevent an impeachment vote against him.

But the moves against Castillo in Congress prompted Peruvians - many of them Castillo supporters - to demonstrate and demand that the people, not politicians, pick the country's leaders.

Some chanted for Castillo to be reinstated.

SUPPORTER OF FORMER PRESIDENT PEDRO CASTILLO, JUAN CALLE:

"Dina Boluarte does not represent us. She is a traitor. She is incompetent. And now she should be in jail because there are already many dead in the country. We will continue until our president (Pedro Castillo) is released."

Protests involving hundreds and at times thousands of people sprung up last week in cities in Peru's interior and capital Lima, at times turning violent.

Boluarte declared a "state of emergency" in the areas of "high conflict," a measure that would allow the armed forces to take more control if necessary.

Authorities say two teenagers were killed and four people injured on Sunday during protests.

The violence wasn't limited to the street: Inside parliament, one congressman tried to assault another.

Peru has suffered intense bouts of political instability of late, with five presidents in just the last five years all unable to complete their elected terms.

The recently deposed Pedro Castillo is a former teacher and union activist, who won a narrow victory in 2021 boosted by poor rural and indigenous voters.

His brief 17 months in office was marked by unprecedented turnover within his cabinet, as well as multiple corruption allegations which he called politically motivated efforts by right-wing members in Congress.

Castillo, who has been under preliminary arrest since Wednesday, is being investigated by prosecutors for the alleged crime of "rebellion" and conspiracy.

Potentially fueling Peru's protests: a strike by indigenous groups launched on Monday in the Apurimac region, home to major copper mining operations. Peru is the world's second-largest copper producer.