Rival protests are being held in Chile’s capital forward of the fiftieth anniversary of a navy coup that ousted President Salvador Allende.
Rival protests are being held in Chile’s capital forward of the fiftieth anniversary of a navy coup that ousted the democratically-elected President Salvador Allende and introduced Basic Augusto Pinochet to energy.
“The crowds have been very very blended and so have their messages. It’s been a really violent day to date,” Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman, reporting from Santiago, stated on Sunday.
“It was mayhem,” she stated.
Greater than 3,200 folks have been killed or “disappeared” – kidnapped and presumed killed – by Pinochet’s safety forces. About 38,000 have been tortured throughout his 17-year dictatorship. The final died of a coronary heart assault on December 10, 2006, aged 91. He was by no means tried in court docket.
Sunday’s march by means of the streets of the capital to the overall cemetery that homes a memorial to the victims of Pinochet’s brutal regime, stopped briefly on the presidential palace, La Moneda, the place then-president Allende was overthrown on September 11, 1973.
Leftist President Gabriel Boric joined the procession of some 5,000 folks, in accordance with the federal government – changing into the primary chief of Chile because the finish of the dictatorship in 1990 to take action.
“When the leftist president, who has a coalition much like the one Allende had 50 years in the past, began to honour the previous president, folks wearing black balaclavas got here throwing stones and nearly broke into the presidential palace,” Al Jazeera’s Newman stated.
Contained in the cemetery, some mausoleums have been broken, together with the tomb of a right-wing senator killed in 1991.
“These answerable for this violence are adversaries of the federal government,” stated Deputy Inside Secretary Manuel Monsalve, including three law enforcement officials had been injured.
Three folks have been arrested, authorities stated.
“We’re listening to that members of the Communist Celebration and Socialist Celebration are peacefully marching whereas others [who support Pinochet] are carrying rocks and Molotov cocktails,” the Al Jazeera correspondent stated.
“So, it’s changing into a day of not a peaceable march in homage to what occurred 50 years in the past to reject navy coups, however somewhat one more day of violence, sadly.”
The majority of the members, bearing Chilean flags and chanting slogans similar to “Fact and justice now!” or “Allende lives!”, marched peacefully.
“September 11 is a date that fills us with reminiscences but in addition offers us some anguish, as a result of as an alternative of advancing, now we have regressed,” 76-year-old Patricia Garzon, a former political prisoner, advised AFP alongside the route.
“With this march, we do not forget that 1973 broke democracy in Chile, and now we proceed combating to take care of and strengthen it,” added Luis Pontigo, 72, a retired trainer.
Within the morning, Boric inaugurated an exhibition devoted to Allende’s reminiscence at La Moneda, within the presence of the deceased Marxist chief’s members of the family.