Violent protests in Chile on coup anniversary
"We had a not very peaceful night," Rodrigo Ubilla, the under secretary of the interior, said Monday. "There were barricades and blocked roads at more than 350 locations."
The incidents began early Saturday and continued into the early hours of Monday, leaving 40 police officers injured, he said.
A 15-year-old girl suffered a gunshot wound in the stomach at a barricade outside her house in southern Santiago, witnesses said.
Protesters set fire to barricades and clashed with police in neighborhoods on the edge of the city and at some locations in downtown Santiago. Power was shut off to 130,000 homes during the weekend.
The disturbances come amid rising labor and student protests against the conservative government of Sebastian Pinera, and coincided with the anniversary of the bloody coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power on September 11, 1973.
Student protesters seeking reforms that include free education on Monday handed Pinera a proposal for dialogue, the latest step in a conflict that has strained Chilean society for months. Last week the students rejected a proposed government timetable for negotiations.
And on Sunday, a peaceful march to remember the more than 3,000 people killed during the military dictatorship turned violent when a group of hooded assailants attacked police guarding the city's main cemetery.
Protesters hurled stones and sticks at the police, set fire to tires and other objects and attacked journalists and photographers at the scene, while police turned water cannons on protesters and used tear gas to disperse them.
"The legitimate right of the families and people to commemorate September 11 cannot be wrapped up in violence of this kind," said Ubilla, calling for public condemnation of the violence.
Pinochet, who remained in power for 17 years, died December 10, 2006 at age 91. Although he was later charged with human rights abuses and illegal enrichment, he was never convicted.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011