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On Sunday, October 18, thousands of people demonstrated in Chile in the capital Santiago, a year after the start of the anti-government protests in which 30 deaths and thousands of injuries had been registered. The protests had led Parliament, in November 2019, to hold a referendum, on October 25, to review the constitution inherited from the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. The referendum was scheduled for April, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The demonstration had started peacefully, but some of the protesters clashed with the police and violence began. Two churches were burned, the Parroquia de la Asunción, which had already been looted in the 2019 protests, and the Iglesia de San Francisco de Borja. The tower of the Parroquia de la Asunción was completely destroyed by flames and the roof of the church collapsed.
Absolute chaos in Santiago: the church tower has caught fire pic.twitter.com/FZHmrVCquy
– John Bartlett (@ jwbartlett92) October 18, 2020
According to the police, 18 officers were injured in the clashes. Interior Minister Víctor Pérez accused the violent protesters of preventing Chileans from “solving their problems democratically” through the referendum, but also praised “the vast majority of Chileans” who demonstrated peacefully. During the clashes, the police fired tear gas and used fire hydrants against the protesters.
Minister @victorperez_v values the peaceful nature of yesterday’s demonstrations and calls for peace to be maintained a few days after # Plebiscito2020: “The vast majority of Chileans yesterday gave a demonstration of moderation and peace.” pic.twitter.com/ziJjxuV17k
– Government of Chile (@GobiernodeChile) October 17, 2020
In 2019 the protests were originally triggered by an increase in the price of subway tickets in Santiago, already very expensive compared to the average salary of Chilean workers, but soon they became a much larger movement that denounced inequalities in the country. high costs for health care and low funding for education.
Even then, at first it was just peaceful protests, then some protesters started robbing and setting fire to shops and businesses. Therefore, the fighting had escalated and the army reached the streets of some cities. Thirty people died, hundreds were injured, and thousands were arrested.
At the end of October, the center-right president Sebastián Piñera, in an attempt to stop the protests, had replaced eight ministers in his government. Then, in November, the Chilean police had suspended the use of rubber bullets that had caused many injuries in the protests of the previous weeks: more than 200 protesters had suffered eye injuries, so much so that the bandages became one of the symbols of protests. .
On September 4 of this year, during an anti-government demonstration, also in the capital Santiago, a 16-year-old teenager was injured after falling from a bridge over the Mapocho River. Several videos circulated on the Internet seemed to show with little doubt how the boy had been pushed by a police officer during some clashes between protesters and security forces.
Exact moment in which security camera shows how adolescent is intercepted by Carabinero and pushed into the Mapocho river. pic.twitter.com/o2TBD7djMN
– Ricardo (@despotricardo) October 3, 2020
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