Protesters being attacked with a water cannon during a march on the day that marks the 49th anniversary of the coup against Salvador Allende in Chile. Photo: EFE.
This Sunday, September 11, hundreds of Chileans participated in a pilgrimage to the General Cemetery to pay tribute to the victims of the coup against the government of President Salvador Allende, which occurred 49 years ago and led to the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
The mobilizations ended with police repression against demonstrators in Santiago, who were condemned by President Gabriel Boric, and who also announced a plan to search for those disappeared during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-90).
URGENTE | CARABINEROS (COP) realizan violento ingreso al memorial de los Detenidos Desaparecidos y Ejecutados PolĂticos del cementerio General (14:39) operativo a cargo del capitán Andrea
Video de @PiensaPrensa pic.twitter.com/TE4v9uXpMv— PIENSAPRENSA 345,2 mil Seguidores (@PiensaPrensa) September 11, 2022
Through Piensa Prensa’s Twitter account it was announced that, using water canons, Carabineros attacked attendees and musicians who were heading on a pilgrimage.
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“Unpresentable | Carabineros attacked participants and musicians with water canons who were heading on a pilgrimage to the General Cemetery. Senselessly soaking musicians and children,” Piensa Prensa wrote.
IMPRESENTABLE | CARABINEROS ATACĂ“ con chorros de agua a asistentes y mĂşsicos que de dirigen en romerĂa hacĂa el cementerio General. Mojando sin sentido a mĂşsicos y niños. Video de @PiensaPrensa pic.twitter.com/szEcKMPZH9
— PIENSAPRENSA 345,2 mil Seguidores (@PiensaPrensa) September 11, 2022
Alicia Lira, president of the Association of Relatives of Executed Politicians, described this act as a different signal from that of previous governments, but insisted on the need for these signs to materialize in concrete actions.
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“Hooded men throw incendiary objects at the Public Order Control (COP) personnel in Alameda near Teatinos,” Carabineros reported on social media networks, adding that “hooded men throw fireworks at the body of a police officer, and incendiary devices at COP personnel in front of La Moneda.
La movilización por los 49 años del Golpe de Estado en Chile fue reprimida en Santiago. Los carabineros que ingresaron hasta el Cementerio General. Es la cuarta represión esta semana, con todo el peso simbólico que tiene, en particular en esta fecha.
🎥 @PiensaPrensa. pic.twitter.com/5sLh2jKwko
— Marco Teruggi (@Marco_Teruggi) September 11, 2022
“If we want to go ahead, which I have no doubt, it is the will of the great and overwhelming majority of Chileans, to meet again, it has to be in peace and without violence,” Boric said of the incidents, according to Chilean newspapers El Mercurio and La Tercera.
This is the fourth day of street violence reported in Chile. It began just a few days after the defeat of the new constitutional referendum aiming at giving Chileans a constitution different than the one written by the Pinochet dictatorship. Many blame the defeat on President Boric’s lack of leadership and low popularity.
(Ăšltimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/EF
