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Chile’s president says police may have violated protocols
SANTIAGO, Nov 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said
on Thursday that police may have broken protocols in responding to a month of
protests, and prosecutors will investigate whether they violated human
rights.
His comments came after Amnesty International released a report denouncing
a “deliberate policy” of wounding protesters during the unrest that broke out
last month and has so far resulted in 22 deaths.
“If those protocols were not met, and I think it is possible that in some
cases they were not met, that will be investigated by the prosecutor’s office
and will be sanctioned by the courts of justice,” Pinera said in a meeting
with foreign media.
Furious Chileans have been protesting social and economic inequality, and
against an entrenched political elite, among other issues.
The National Institute of Human Rights has reported about 2,000 injuries,
while health organizations claim that more than 280 people have suffered eye
damage from shotgun pellets.
No police officers have been killed in the demonstrations but the human
rights institute said some 1,600 officers have been wounded.
The prosecutor’s office reported that from October 31, around 1,089
criminal investigations have been opened into allegations of police violence,
24 for alleged instances of torture and nine for cases of alleged sexual
abuse or rape.
Pinera has previously condemned what he said were abuses committed by
police, and promised “there will be no impunity” for both protesters and
security forces.
Chile’s police had on Tuesday announced they would suspend the use of
birdshot against protesters, following an outcry over the more than 200
demonstrators who have suffered eye injuries.
The Amnesty report released Thursday said Chilean security forces are
“carrying out widespread attacks using unnecessary and excessive force with
the intention of injuring and punishing protesters.”
“The intention of the Chilean security forces is clear: to injure
demonstrators in order to discourage protest, even to the extent of using
torture and sexual violence against protesters,” Amnesty’s Americas director
Erika Guevara-Rosas said in a statement.
The report also found 23 instances of human rights violations, which it
said were “not isolated or sporadic incidents, but reveal a consistent
pattern of violations throughout the country, indicating the modus operandi
of the security forces.”
The Chilean government “categorically rejects” the Amnesty report, Chile’s
human rights under-secretary Lorena Recabarren said in a press conference,
while the Chilean police said that it had no “intention to harm” protesters.
Demonstrations continued in the capital Santiago on Thursday as well as in
the port city of Valparaiso and in Concepcion, southern Chile’s largest city.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0850 hrs