ZCZC
BFF-15
CHILE-RIGHTS-DEMONSTRATION
23 dead as violent unrest in Chile enters fifth week
SANTIAGO, Nov 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The death toll from violent unrest in
Chile rose to 23 on Friday as the country entered its fifth week of social
unrest.
Looting and demonstrations took place in cities across the South American
nation, and an agreement on a political roadmap that will see Chile draft a
new constitution has halted neither the anger, nor the bloodshed.
Furious Chileans have since October 18 been protesting social and economic
inequality, and against an entrenched political elite that comes from a small
number of the wealthiest families in the country, among other issues.
The crisis is the worst in three decades of Chilean democracy and has led
to around 2,000 injuries, including some 280 people who suffered eye damage
from shotgun pellets.
The latest death was a 13-year-old boy who an interior ministry official
said was run over by a van during protests in Arica, about 1,300 miles (2,100
kilometers) north of the capital Santiago.
Thousands of people gathered again on Friday in Plaza Italia, the center of
the demonstrations in Santiago and the site of weekly rallies that have seen
massive turnout since the social upheaval broke out.
“We cannot ease up. We have to keep expressing ourselves because we have
not achieved anything, because the repression continues and also (the
government) keeps signing fake agreements, like the peace deal,” Claudia
Ortolani, a young protester, told AFP.
Nearby, hooded men were squaring off against police, who broke up the crowd
with tear gas and water cannons.
Meanwhile, about a hundred people protested outside the Costanera Center,
the largest mall in South America, as around twenty riot police guarded the
entrance to the building.
– Violence rages –
While protests earlier in the week not been huge, the outbursts of violence
multiplied in the capital’s metro area on Thursday and Friday.
The anger in the streets had eased after last week’s agreement by Congress
to draft a new Constitution.
But with people back on the streets in force again, President Sebastian
Pinera’s government again appealed for calm.
Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumel issued a “deep and sincere call to all
political forces” to end the unrest.
But in Quilicura, north of Santiago, a shopping center was set on fire and
looted by a crowd while in Puente Alto, another working-class area, a gas
station, a police headquarters and businesses were attacked.
In the northern city of Antofagasta, a motorist injured five people when he
ran down protesters, while a supermarket was ransacked.
Looting, barricades and fires were also recorded in the port of Valparaiso
and the city of Vina del Mar, and in Concepcion in the south.
“This situation … affects our offer to take charge,” said police general
Enrique Basseletti, after complaints from people irate that they had not seen
police on their streets.
Blumel said that 2,500 trainee police officers would be put on the streets
early to bolster the force.
On Thursday, authorities arrested 700 people in the unrest. That followed
the police decision to suspend the use of birdshot against protesters,
following an outcry over eye injury victims.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1119 hrs