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| Two people died amid clashes between protesters and police at the Tinaya mine in Espinar |
A Peruvian
judge has ordered a mayor accused of inciting anti-mining protests to be held
in "preventative" detention for up to five months.
Two people
died and many dozens were injured in Monday's protests in Espinar against the
expansion of a copper mine run by Swiss company Xstrata.
Oscar
Mollohuanca rejects accusations he incited violence and used public funds to
pay for the protest.
He has not
been charged, but is being held because he is a flight risk.
Following
the protest, Mr Mollohuanca was reported to have gone into hiding to evade
detention - but he denies doing so.
He was
arrested on Wednesday and a judge has now decided to keep him in
"preventative" custody for up to five months while the accusations
against him are investigated.
State of emergency
Mr
Mollohuanca dismisses his detention as politically motivated, saying it was
"surely handed down because of pressure from above, because what we have
here at play are big interests from, for example, mining companies".
Last week's
protests were triggered in part by anger over the amount of royalties the mine
proposed to pay the local government.
The clashes
prompted Peru's government to restrict civil liberties in a month-long state of
emergency, says the BBC's Matthia Cabitza in Lima.
The police
have been criticised for opening fire on the demonstrators, but the government
in Lima says that dialogue is not possible with what it calls radical
extremists, our correspondent adds.
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