Lima: A WOMAN was killed and some forty people were arrested in a Peruvian shantytown after an angry mob tried to lynch two poll workers who residents believed were butchering local children to take their organs, police said yesterday.
Police General Hugo Begazo said false rumours on social media claiming dead children were found with their organs missing fanned mass hysteria in shantytown Huaycan on outskirts of Lima, prompting residents to target two employees of a polling company who had been conducting door-to-door marketing surveys.
Police managed to pry the poll workers unharmed from the mob, which then attacked the police station in Huaycan where they were being held for protection, Begazo said.
Police are investigating death of a Huaycan woman who died from a bullet wound following unrest, Begazo said.
TV images of the clashes showed police launching tear gas at a crowd and firing bullets in the air as people ran screaming and men threw rocks and wielded sticks.
