Thousands of people chanting "Say Yes to Democracy!" marched through Lima on Friday, defying a strike leftist guerrillas called in their campaign to disrupt the Nov. 12 municipal elections.
Guerrillas designated it an "armed strike," implying violence against anyone who did not comply.Most schools closed and business-people kept stores shuttered much of the morning because of the strike declared by the Maoist guerrillas of Shining Path, but shops opened later in the day and the government declared the rebel action a failure.
Clusters of leftists and rightists, many also shouting "We Love Peru!" and "Terrorism Will Not Pass!" marched from separate points of the city to Grau Plaza in downtown Lima.
Interior Ministry spokesman Fernando Yovera said more than 10,000 people participated. Witnesses estimated the crowd at more than 50,000.
The government deployed thousands of police and army troops in the city Friday, and hundreds of police guarded the plaza.
As an army helicopter hovered overhead, the crowd observed a minute of silence for the victims of terrorist violence, then dispersed.
The march was organized by a broad spectrum of political parties.
Novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, considered the leading candidate in the April presidential election, said it was the first time such a diverse group of parties had joined in a common effort.
"It is the paradoxical effect of the recent wave of rebel violence that it has succeeded in accomplishing what was thought absolutely impossible in the last few years," said Manuel d'Ornellas, a columnist for the Lima daily Expreso.
The rebels have mounted a violent campaign to sabotage the nationwide municipal elections. The Shining Path has assassinated more than 120 mayors, local officials and candidates this year, mostly in rural provinces. Hundreds more have quit because of death threats.