Red October
14th September 2007, 01:06
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- Police battled hundreds of protesters through the night on the anniversary of a 1973 military coup, and authorities said Wednesday that one
Demonstrators stand by fire barricades that protesters set in Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday.
The government reported that 216 people were arrested.
Shops were looted, a school and a gas station were badly damaged and more than 140,000 homes were temporarily left without electricity as protesters threw chains at power lines.
Minor clashes occurred during daylight Tuesday in the city of 5.5 million people, but they grew more serious after nightfall.
Masked youth erected flaming barricades to block traffic and attacked police with firearms and rocks. Officer Cristian Vera, 36, died after being shot in the head, police said, while several other officers were wounded and one had his face burned with acid.
Police dispersed the rioters with tear gas and water cannons, but they repeatedly regrouped.
The reasons for the night protests, which have become common on the coup anniversary every year, were not clear.
Defense Minister Jose Goni said, "They are not demonstrators. They are criminals and vandals." Interior Minister Belisario Velasco said drug traffickers were also involved.
Tuesday was the first anniversary of the 1973 coup since the death in December of the general who led it, Augusto Pinochet.
On Tuesday morning, President Michelle Bachelet called for Chileans to strengthen democracy and placed a wreath at a memorial to Salvador Allende, the elected Marxist president who committed suicide at the presidential palace rather than surrender to the rebellious military.
The Pinochet family, meanwhile, gathered at the former dictator's countryside residence near Santiago to inaugurate a crypt where his ashes were placed.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/09/...e.ap/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/09/12/chile.violence.ap/index.html)
This is interesting, and though it doesn't say if the protesters are right or left wing, it seems certain they would be leftists. Thoughts on this?
Demonstrators stand by fire barricades that protesters set in Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday.
The government reported that 216 people were arrested.
Shops were looted, a school and a gas station were badly damaged and more than 140,000 homes were temporarily left without electricity as protesters threw chains at power lines.
Minor clashes occurred during daylight Tuesday in the city of 5.5 million people, but they grew more serious after nightfall.
Masked youth erected flaming barricades to block traffic and attacked police with firearms and rocks. Officer Cristian Vera, 36, died after being shot in the head, police said, while several other officers were wounded and one had his face burned with acid.
Police dispersed the rioters with tear gas and water cannons, but they repeatedly regrouped.
The reasons for the night protests, which have become common on the coup anniversary every year, were not clear.
Defense Minister Jose Goni said, "They are not demonstrators. They are criminals and vandals." Interior Minister Belisario Velasco said drug traffickers were also involved.
Tuesday was the first anniversary of the 1973 coup since the death in December of the general who led it, Augusto Pinochet.
On Tuesday morning, President Michelle Bachelet called for Chileans to strengthen democracy and placed a wreath at a memorial to Salvador Allende, the elected Marxist president who committed suicide at the presidential palace rather than surrender to the rebellious military.
The Pinochet family, meanwhile, gathered at the former dictator's countryside residence near Santiago to inaugurate a crypt where his ashes were placed.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/09/...e.ap/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/09/12/chile.violence.ap/index.html)
This is interesting, and though it doesn't say if the protesters are right or left wing, it seems certain they would be leftists. Thoughts on this?