More than 60 arrested in yet another night of protests against Piera

A new demonstration in Santiago de Chile made last night against the government of Sebastin Piera and for the release of those arrested during previous marches, it ended with 63 demonstrators detained, seven Carabineros agents wounded 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 last year’s social epidemic, has been the epicenter of a new protest against the executive.

During the day, some of those mobilized set fire to the statue of General Baquedano, a Chilean politician and military man, in a blaze that was extinguished by firefighters after the Carabinieri forcibly dispersed the protesters.

The army reacted with a statement in which it described as “marginal and cowardly anti-Chileans” those who set the monument on fire.

In keeping with the times, Defense Minister Baldo Prokurica “strongly condemned the affront to the statue of army general Manuel Baquedano”.

“Violence and intolerance have no place in a democratic society and must be condemned and strongly rejected,” he said in a message on his Twitter account.

Riots also took place around the square and authorities counted 600 participants, according to La Tercera.

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

Plaza Italia became the epicenter of the citizen movement that erupted in the country in 2019 and led to massive protests that led to the October 2020 plebiscite, which launched a constitutional process to draft a new constitution and amend the current dictated by Augusto Pinochet in 1980..

This type of demonstration takes place every Friday, and in addition to Piera, the protests focus on the institutional violence of the security forces, in particular the carabineers.

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, in an event that sparked further protests in various parts of the country .