Hooded men cause riots in march for the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Chile

Hooded men vandalized the exterior of the presidential palace of La Moneda and mausoleums in the main cemetery of Santiago on Sunday, during the march to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état against Salvador Allende in Chili.

Protesters clashed with police around the government headquarters and in the cemetery where a memorial stands for the victims of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, the general who overthrew Allende on September 11, 1973.

The police fired tear gas and jets of water at the hooded men who carried out the riots. At least three people were detained and three uniformed officers were injured, according to the government report.

Early, a group of protesters destroyed the windows of La Moneda with stones and sticks, scratched the walls with aerosol spray and knocked down the fences that surrounded the protest route.

“As President of the Republic, I categorically condemn these events without any nuance. (…) his irrationality in attacking what Allende and so many other democrats fought for is vile and mean.”President Gabriel Boric reacted in his X account.

Half a century after the military coup, Chile is still divided between those who defend and repudiate the dictatorship.

Today Allende’s political heirs govern, but the Republican Party, which claims Pinochet’s legacy, won the recent elections of constituents drafting a draft Fundamental Charter that could replace the one written by the dictatorship.

“We have gone backwards”

The incidents marred the march of some 5,000 people that passed through part of the center of Santiago on the way to the General Cemetery.

The leftist Boric briefly joined the demonstration, the first ruler since the return of democracy in 1990 to participate in this mobilization that takes place every September 11.

Allende, who committed suicide on the same day of the coup, was overthrown by the military under the command of General Pinochet, who led a dictatorship that lasted 17 years and left more than 3,200 victims, including deaths and detainees who disappeared.

Despite the disturbances, the march took place with people in the streets carrying Chilean flags, leftist party flags and banners with slogans such as “Truth and justice now” and “Allende lives”.

“September 11 is a date that fills us with memories, but that gives us a little anguish, because instead of moving forward we have gone backwards,” said Patricia Garzón (76), former political prisoner and partner of someone murdered by the dictatorship.

This Sunday, Boric, together with Allende’s family, inaugurated an installation at the pedestrian gate of La Moneda, on Morandé Street, where the ruler’s body was taken after committing suicide by shooting himself.

Within the framework of the exhibition “The walk of a democrat” The shoes that Allende wore during the coup d’état are displayed in a display case, the day the Air Force bombed the La Moneda palace.

Source: AFP