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President Gabriel Boric condemned the “unacceptable criminal acts” of some protesters.
42 injured and 195 arrested: the balance of the third anniversary of the social outbreak in Chile
The demonstrations that took place on Tuesday in Chile to commemorate the third anniversary of the social uprising left a balance of 42 people injured and 195 detained, informed the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, when presenting a balance of the day in which a broad judicial operation was deployed.
“Fortunately, and we really value it in a very significant way, there has been no deceased person”
, the official highlighted when recalling that last year, on this same date, there were two deaths. He even specified that now there was only looting, as opposed to 45 registered in 2021.
The day before, thousands of Chileans took to the streets to commemorate the 15 October 2019, a date that has already remained in its history because it marked the beginning of unprecedented student protests that later spread to other sectors of society and that generated the most serious crisis of the former president’s government Sebastian Pinera.
The Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve reported 150 events of disturbance of public order during the anniversary day of the 18-EITHER. pic.twitter.com/MOXGN7aZj7
— Radio Portales (@RadioPortales) October 19, 2022
The mobilizations of this year they were preceded by a climate of tension, since the government headed by Gabriel Boric, the leftist president who came to power thanks in large part to the social unrest, ordered an operation with 24.000 carabineros to guard the streets . The authorities feared excesses, while the demonstrators feared further repression.
The misgivings were confirmed, since there were riots, clashes , acts of vandalism and repression by the police force, which launched tear gas and water jets to disperse the people.
In the report that he offered to the media, Monsalve revealed that there was 150 “public order disturbance events” throughout the country, 86 of them in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago.
He also explained that 25 of the 42 wounded are carabineros s , but there were no serious cases, and that around 1 participated in the “criminal acts”.200 people , which represents a small portion of the crowds that took to the streets.
“The Government will never be happy as long as there are violent and criminal acts, but one must evaluate the results of the work and what one can say is that there has been a very significant decrease (…) we understand that the results are because there is a different state of mind in Chilean society. People in their homes, those who work, those who are looking to return to normality in the country and their families, want tranquility and public order,” he said.
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The operatives were criticized by Boric’s allies. One of the harshest It was Daniel Jadue, mayor of the commune of Recoleta (Santiago), who condemned the actions of the Carabineros.
How do you explain that where there was looting and strong excesses there was no police presence? Where is the intelligence to detect and isolate the violentists? Why was it decided to besiege the center of the capital and repress peaceful demonstrators? There is so much to change!
— Daniel Jadue (@danieljadue) October 19, 2022
“Three years later, the repression is still intact. Unpresentable and incomprehensible. Finally, nothing has changed!”, he wrote in a message on social networks in which He directly asked the Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Carolina Toha, how she could explain that this Government “uses the same practices as Piñera.”
However, Boric confirmed his rejection to the vandalism of some groups during the demonstrations and guaranteed that there will be sanctions because destruction on public roads and violence against other citizens cannot be allowed.
“Yesterday in particular during the night we are experiencing unacceptable criminal acts that, although they are fewer than those of the recent past year, are equally outrageous”, he stated, warning “of ma clearly and categorically” that his government will not rest until those who illegitimately believe they own the streets are sanctioned.
