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Until 17:30 in the afternoon, the Carabineros personnel installed in Plaza Baquedano had no interventions. But everything changed at that time, when the first skirmishes began to be recorded in the surroundings of Plaza Baquedano, specifically in the Pío Nono Bridge., at which time a group of people lit barricades and the first disorders began in the sector.
Although, according to the Carabineros, they were minor events, they marked the starting point of a late night that could be tense. For the same reason, the uniformed police had three squads of Carabineros – of about 60 men each – in the vicinity of the plaza, specifically around the statue of General Baquedano, in addition to security rings about five blocks around from the so-called “ground zero”.
However, after 6.30 p.m. in Plaza Italia there was already more than one disorder, mostly stones at the Carabineros water-throwing cars that were trying to disperse the protesters.
The gas launcher was also used by the uniformed police, which in a way managed to disperse the protesters, who could not reach the Baquedano monument, but after 30 minutes the containment became unsustainable.
After 7:00 p.m. a group of about a thousand people was already stationed in Plaza Italia, where protesters hung canvases and carried flags to the top of the monument. This despite the fact that in La Tercera PM, the undersecretary of the Interior, Juan Francisco Galli, maintained that “According to the electoral norm, demonstrations for electoral purposes cannot be held until four hours after the premises are closed. We must be aware that we are in a pandemic and comply with health regulations, beyond the fact that the celebration is natural ”.
Until 7:30 p.m. there were almost 2,000 people who were in Plaza Italia and according to the first reports of some witnesses, the police presence was already almost nil and they only maintained a presence with uniformed men in the vicinity of the sector Why? Did the police turn over the area?
The national director of the Directorate of Order and Security, General Ricardo Yáñez, responds to La Tercera: “We do not deliver Plaza Italia, but we see the need to withdraw our resources, because fighting with two thousand people can do more damage, as injured people, which is what we want to avoid ”.
Regarding the strategy deployed, Yáñez stated that “We were going to maintain a preventive service in place to avoid damage to furniture and public order, but with the volume of people who arrived at the place, we preferred to relocate our resources in defined points, which will allow necessary interventions to be made at some minute and in the presence of serious crimes “.
The general “regrets” that this has happened, given that “the day was demonstrating to a citizenry with an important civic spirit, but this will hinder the eventual celebrations that will occur later. This complicates the situation. Unfortunately there are people who have not very serious behaviors and who pretend to be above the law, and who also mix between women and children, which makes the intervention very complicated “.
According to the latest Carabineros report, 48 people had been detained during the day, nationwide, and 11 in the Metropolitan Region.
