The Chilean authorities reported this Tuesday at the last minute on the arrest of at least 50 people and reported at least 28 injured during the riots that took place in different parts of the country in commemoration of the third anniversary of the social outbreak that took place in Chile in 2019.
According to the undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, the balance of the registered incidents leaves at least 50 detainees in 18 sources of violence in which about 700 people would have participated, reported ‘Bio Bio Chile’.
“There are about 700 people who have taken to the streets not to commemorate anything, not to fight for any cause, but to commit crimes that we reject,” Monsalve remarked during a press conference at the Casa de la Moneda.
Of the total arrests, 30 took place in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, the rest occurred in different regions. In addition, there are 15 civilians injured, 14 from the explosion of a noise bomb in an institute, and another in the arson attack on a central street in Santiago.
Likewise, 13 members of the Carabineros have been injured during the riots, according to Monsalve and has been collected by the aforementioned newspaper.
The Undersecretary of the Interior announced that he will file complaints for the events recorded this Tuesday, and showed his full support for the members of the security forces.
“Carabineros have our full support to not only prevent, but to stop people who are committing crimes that are completely unacceptable,” he assured.
The first disturbances of the day on Tuesday caused the closure of the metro in the capital before an anniversary that has mobilized nearly 25,000 agents throughout the country, while only 5,000 have been deployed in Santiago, with special emphasis on La Moneda and in Baquedano square.
Given the possibility of violent events, the country’s president, Gabriel Boric, assured that during the marches of the social outbreak in 2019 “there were deaths, there were sexual abuses, there were eye mutilations.” “We must assume that the police control of those months exceeded the limits of what is acceptable,” he lamented.
This Tuesday’s date is marked by the recent attacks suffered by several police officers, including that of Sergeant Carlos Retamal Jaque, who died last week during an operation, as well as the latest warnings from various members of the Government, including Boric, of who will relentlessly pursue violent behavior and crime.
This third anniversary is the first since Boric has been in La Moneda and the opposition has already taken it upon itself to remember the past of some of the new authorities, whom it has accused of not having condemned at the time those protests that led to riots and clashes with the police.
The mobilizations for the anniversary of last year resulted in at least two deaths and some 450 detainees, in addition to looting and various violent acts after the march had been largely peaceful.
On October 18, 2019, the people of Chile took to the streets en masse to protest the rise in the price of public transport, initiating mobilizations that remained constant for several months and that channeled the discontent of society due to the overwhelming inequality.
Information of: Europe Press
Photo credits: Reuters
