STORY: A protest of informal miners erupted into clashes with riot police on Thursday (July 10) in Lima over the government’s plan to formalise and regulate the sector, which has caused confrontations in recent weeks.

Tension mounted when the march arrived near Congress, and some protesters breached protection fences, according to Peruvian media.

Protesters demand an Artisan and Small-Scale Mining Law (Mape Law) and an extension to the deadline to be included in the program to be regularised beyond December 31, as it’s now stipulated.

The informal miners’ strike, which started ten days ago, has also caused disturbances in other parts of the country. In southern Arequipa, drivers demanded solutions to roadblocks that caused lines of vehicles, according to media reports.

Peru's government has kicked 50,565 informal miners off a temporary program that allowed them to continue operations, the minister of Energy and Mines said on July 4.

Only 31,560 miners will remain in the program that aims to formalize them and the government will reinforce its efforts against illegal mining, minister Jorge Montero told a local radio station.

The program, called REINFO, was started in 2012 and meant to be a temporary way to formalize miners operating outside the law. It has since been extended multiple times but also criticized for enabling illegal mining that degrades the environment.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: INFORMAL MINERS CLASHING WITH POLICE / SOUNDBITES FROM MINERS / BLOCKED ROADS

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE STORY

SHOWS: LIMA, PERU (JULY 10, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF INFORMAL MINERS CLASHING WITH RIOT POLICE

2. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HURLING OBJECTS AT POLICE

3. PROTESTER HOLDING SIGN READING (Spanish): “Urgent approval of Mape Law”

4. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HURLING OBJECTS TO POLICE

5. POLICE THROWING GAS CANISTERS

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARTISAN MINER, OSWALDO QUISPE, SAYING:

“Our march was meant to move through this street, the Avenue of Congress. It wasn’t for these men to throw tear gas at us. We haven’t done anything, we’re humble miners, workers, we just want to be respected. We will not give up, we will continue until the end. If we have to give our lives, we will give them, as I live off this.”

7. PROTESTERS WAVING GIANT PERUVIAN FLAG IN FRONT OF POLICE

8. PROTESTER HOLDING SIGN READING (Spanish): “Incapable Congress, pass the Mape Law”

9. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER, SAYING:

“My grandfather was a miner, my father was a miner, me, my son, we’re artisan, ancestral miners and we’re on the way to get formalised. Instead of helping us, this government wants to not formalise us but make us disappear. It criminalises us.”

AREQUIPA, PERU (JULY 9, 2025) (RPP – No use Peru)

10. VARIOUS OF LINES OF TRUCKS, VEHICLES BLOCKING ROADS

11. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DRIVER, OSCAR, SAYING:

“As you’ve seen, not only us but many buses are halted. We want the government to give us a solution, authorities to come with a solution to continue our way. We’re stranded here, we’re deprived of our right to move.”

12. ROAD BLOCKED WITH INFORMAL MINERS TENTS ON SIDES