PROTESTS have erupted in Peru in support of President Pedro Castillo after he was ousted by right-wing lawmakers in a coup and then imprisoned. 

Footage has appeared on social media showing riot police using tear gas as they attacked protesters in Peru’s capital Lima.

The number of protesters arrested or injured by the Peruvian authorities has yet to be confirmed. 

Mr Castillo’s ousting is the latest in a long line of political crises in the country, which is now on its sixth president in six years.

The protests come as Mexico began consultations with Peruvian authorities to provide asylum for the ousted president.

According to Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, Mr Castillo requested asylum in Mexico and their ambassador to Peru has already met with the former president.

Mr Ebrard shared a copy of Mr Castillo’s asylum request written by his lawyer, in which it is alleged the former president was “at grave risk” in Peru and that he had suffered “unfounded persecution”.

Peruvian authorities “have acted with political motivation in respect to Castillo,” his lawyer Victor Gilbert Perez wrote, “to such an extent that they intend to prosecute him for mere announcements of will or intention that do not constitute any criminal offence.”