Immigration to Chile sparks wave of marches with incidents

A week after an eviction by the police and an attack on a group of Venezuelan immigrants, small groups of Chileans left this Saturday to march in the capital, Santiago, and in Antofagasta, in the north of the country, for and against the entry of foreigners into the territory.

At Santiago, the marches ended in violent confrontationamong a group that immigration rejected and another hooded man who tried to boycott his protest. The Carabinieri reported on their Twitter that a person had been stabbed and interned and that the assailant and 12 other protesters had been arrested.

He further added that eight people were injured, including two police officers, according to local media Bio Bio.

The demonstration Against the arrival of immigrants, he started early in the morning in front of the Palacio de La Moneda and moved along Paseo Ahumada with Chilean flags and singing the national anthem.

The The demonstration was called under the title “March against the migratory invasion” for the far right front, Patria y Libertad.

In recent months, the northern regions of the country, bordering Bolivia, have seen an increase in the arrival of immigrants, mainly Venezuelans. with very few resources and without the necessary papers to apply for residency.

The local and then national authorities began to speak of a “migration crisis” which put gasoline on the populations hampered by these new migratory flows, who often end up settling in parks, squares or roundabouts, because they have no money to rent a room.

Amid criticism of last week’s attacks and the growth of a more and more xenophobic explicit discourse Against the newly arrived Venezuelans, several civil organizations called counter-marches on Saturday to support immigration to the country.

The most important event in this sense, it was one of the Plaza Colón de Antofagasta, in the north of the country, under the slogan: “No one is illegal, to migrate is to live”.

“We come to support the migrant brothers and sisters who have arrived in the country, criticizing what happened a few weeks ago in Iquique”, where the migrants’ property was set on fire, said one of the demonstrators, who also appreciated the arrival of these people. “They are coming to look for other possibilities” and called on the authorities “to find solutions” for them, according to the information portal Cooperativa.