Violence and 72 arrests on anniversary of Pinochet's coup

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Monday September 11, 2006

Santiago- On the 33rd anniversary of the coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power, protestors attacked the presidential palace and perpetrated other violence, government officials said on Monday. Violent clashes led to 32 arrests on Monday and 40 arrests on Sunday. Six police officers were injured.

Chile's Deputy Interior Minister Felipe Harboe said violent demonstrators attacked the presidential palace and the police with Molotov cocktails and stones on Sunday.

Harboe indicated that so far there has been less damage to public and private property, fewer arrests and fewer people hurt than in the previous anniversaries.

However, he admitted that the Molotov bomb that hit the presidential palace left an unfortunate image that made a large impact in the media.

The person responsible for that attack has not yet been identified, he told Radio Bio-Bio.

Harboe added that the authorities will press for harsh punishment because the bomb was hurled by someone who who put innocent people at risk and showed no respect for the human rights organizations that organized the demonstration.

Incidents in the capital took place mainly in poor areas where young people built barricades with burning tyres.

Harboe criticized the violent protestors who were born under the democracy and who he said took advantage of the remembrance of the coup and other occasions with political underpinnings to cause unrest and damage. This must be condemned by all sectors of society, Harboe said.

Several fast-food restaurants, bus stops and telephone booths were destroyed.

Pinochet led a successful military coup on September 11, 1973 against Chile's elected president, the socialist Salvador Allende. Around 3,500 people were killed and tens of thousand suffered torture or were forced to go into exile during the general's dictatorship, which ended in 1990.

The country's current president, socialist Michelle Bachelet, condemned the violence and called Chileans to a peaceful gathering on Monday to commemorate the violent end of Allende's government.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur