Other protests against Sebastián Piñera in Chile | Of…

Nail new event in Santiago de Chile done last night against the government of Sebastián Piñera and for the release of those arrested during the previous marches ended with 63 demonstrators arrested, seven wounded police officers and the historical monument of General Manuel Baquedano on fire.

The Chilean capital’s Baquedano Square, known as Plaza Italia and now renamed by protesters Plaza Dignidad for being the core of the social epidemic that began in late 2019, has been the epicenter of a new demonstration against the conservative government.

During the day, some of those mobilized set fire to the statue of General Baquedano, in a fire that was extinguished by firefighters after riflemen forcibly dispersed the demonstrators. Baquedano was the leader of the Chilean troops in the Pacific War, against Peru and Bolivia, in which the highland country lost its way to the sea.

The Piñera government responded with a statement calling those who set fire to the monument “misfit cowards” and “anti-Chileans”. In the same vein, the Minister of Defense, Baldo Prokurica, “strongly condemned the affront to the statue of the general of the army, Manuel Baquedano”. On Twitter, he stressed that “violence and intolerance have no place in a democratic society and must be condemned and strongly rejected”.

Law enforcement officers arrested at least 63 people, while seven riflemen were injured, according to the head of the eastern metropolitan region, Enrique Morás, as quoted by the Europa Press news agency.

Plaza Italia became the epicenter of the citizen movement that erupted in the country in October 2019 and led to massive protests that led to the October 2020 plebiscite, which launched a constitutional process to develop a new Magna Carta for replace the constitution imposed by the dictatorship. by Augusto Pinochet in 1980.

These types of protests take place every Friday and, in addition to Piñera, the protests focus on institutional violence by the security forces, especially the carabinieri. Several political parties and social leaders have called for the dismantling of the Carabineros after the death of a young street artist at the hands of an agent a few weeks ago, which sparked new protests in various parts of the country.