Protestors killed, 18 in Peru

The new president of Peru has been officially charged with homicide and genocide after state thugs guarding an airport killed 18 of the thousands of protesters who tried to take over that airport.

Whether charges of homicide are justified depends on details I don't know. If they are, whether the charges legally should fall on the thugs alone, or higher officials as well, depends on more details I don't know. I don't know which side is right or wrong in Peru.

But charges of genocide can't possibly be justified. The thugs did not try to wipe out a demographic group, or even to take actions in that direction. They did not even try to wipe out the protesters in that one airport.

Weakening the definition of "genocide" will undermine the special odium that the world has attached to any intentional effort to wipe out a particular demographic group. That would be a bad thing to do.