Peru’s President Pedro Castillo imposed a tight curfew on the capital and the country’s main port in response to sometimes violent protection over rising prices of fuel and food.

Shortly before midnight, the president announced that people must largely stay in their homes all Tuesday, starting at 2 a.m., because of acts of violence, which had included four deaths over the past week, the burning of toll stations, and small-scale looting.

He said violence and highway blockades had caused “worry among workers, mothers and the population in general” and imposed a curfew to “re-establish peace and internal order.”

He also extended a state of emergency imposed in early February that restricts some rights to meet and move about and against unauthorized searches.

The decree exempted essential services such as food markets, pharmacies, clinics, and trash collection. The measure was similar to the most restrictive lockdowns imposed against the COVID-19 pandemic.