Police officer killed street performer and burned buildings in southern Chile

In an episode that exacerbated the social tension in certain sectors with the government of Sebastián Piñera, a policeman killed a young man who made his living juggling with used and dull machetes on a street in the town of Panguipulli, south of this country. The dramatic event led to violent protests, including fires in some public buildings, like the commune of Panguipulli and the post office, whose images burned last night reflected the extreme tension generated. In addition, there was an attempt to loot a local bank.

The killed street artist has been identified as Francisco Martinez Romero, and in the video of the dramatic moment of his assassination, we see that the policeman points his gun at him, threatens him and shoots him twice as a “warning”, but Martínez Romero runs towards the place at a certain point where the man in uniform is and this one shoots him fatally. Witnesses said the policeman used his gun “even though the sabers used by the juggler were for artistic purposes only and were dull,” situation which is currently under investigation by the justice system although it has been reported that carabinero was arrested.

However, according to the testimony of a witness published by the Chilean portal Summary, the man in uniform began to pull Martínez Romero at the feet of the young man when he offered no more resistance than the nervous cries in front of the dramatic situation.

“He has a bullet in the chest from the projectile, I saw him, they didn’t tell me” a witness linked to the Chilean portal abstract. The woman, who is also a nurse, was one of the first to approach to try to help the young man and she also said that the cash that had shot and the other police officers who formed the same group men in uniform immediately fled the area.

“The riflemen did not even interrupt the movement of vehicles, after having shot the artist, they got into their vehicles and escaped the scene,” said witnesses to the murder.

Circumstantial passers-by and friends of Francisco Martínez managed to take the body that was on the street to a sidewalk where the health worker tried to revive it, but they could not prevent it from dying. According to the summary, the prosecution instructed the homicide squad to carry out the respective tests on the spot.

After the murder of Martínez Romero, dozens of locals staged protests in the center of Panguipulli, which led to incidents and fires in public buildings. According to the portal of Radio Bío Bío, were affected by the flames were the Municipality of Panguipulli, Municipal Social Department, Correos de Chile, ChileAtiende, Civil Registry, Local Police Court, Essal and Human Resources of the Municipality, as there was an attempted looting of a branch of Banco de Creditos e Inversiones (BCI).

Following the fires, three firefighters were also injured and this Saturday the place was under heavy police surveillance, while the investigation into the event which ended in the death of the artist was progressing.

NA / AFP / HB