Chile: The inaugural session of the Constitutive Convention is suspended | For incidents between demonstrators and police outside the headquarters

The installation ceremony of the Constitutive Convention in Chile was temporarily suspended today after incidents were recorded between demonstrators and police in front of the headquarters, announced the president of the session.

“Aware of the situation and concerned, I have also decided to invite you to suspend this session” until noon, said the rapporteur of the Qualifying Election Tribunal (Tricel), Carmen Gloria Valladares.

Minutes earlier, in front of the convention headquarters in downtown Santiago, police fired tear gas and threw water with fire hydrant cars at a group of protesters.

Aware of the situation, the Convention members interrupted the session and demanded that Valladères suspend the process, and some of them took to the streets to approach the scene of the incidents and demand the end of the police charges.

The official ceremony in the former headquarters of Congress had started a few minutes late with the national anthem, after several columns of protesters and voters marched towards the square from different parts of the city.

Suddenly, the conventionalists began to shout “no to repression” and “freedom for prisoners to fight”, which caused minutes of tension and led to the suspension of the ceremony “until the country be calm, ”Valladares said.

Police reported on Twitter that there had been no arrests for the incidents, but that an officer was injured.

Reform was one of the main demands of the wave of street protests that have rocked Chile since the end of 2018 due to the high cost of living, low pensions and expensive access to healthcare in the country. one of the most unequal countries in the region.

Last May, the constituent elections shook the Chilean political class: the first minority is made up of independents who did not run on behalf of any party, many of whom renounced the usual way of doing politics in the country.

In today’s session, voters must take an oath and the convention authorities, its president and vice-president, must be elected.