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News > Chile

Chileans Commemorate Second Anniversary of 2019 Social Uprising

  • Chileans demonstrate in Plaza Italia, popularly renamed Plaza Dignidad, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the wave of protests that shook the country at the end of October 2019, today, in Santiago, Chile

    Chileans demonstrate in Plaza Italia, popularly renamed Plaza Dignidad, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the wave of protests that shook the country at the end of October 2019, today, in Santiago, Chile | Photo: EFE / Alberto Valdés

Published 18 October 2021
Opinion

Some 50 demonstrations, some of them massive, are occurring throughout the country. During the day, the drafting of the new Constitution began.

Movements and organizations are mobilizing this Monday in various points of Chile, in acts of protest that recall the two years of the social outbreak of October and November 2019 in the South American nation.

According to local media, about 50 demonstrations are occurring throughout the country with the participation of workers, students, members of collectives and community organizations.

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Calls for a national strike on October 18 and 19 have been spread through social networks, and a massive march in the direction of the Palacio de la Moneda, seat of the Executive, was called for 5:00 PM local time.

As of 6:00 AM local time, the first barricades were placed in communes of Santiago, the capital city.

Shortly after, public acts of the Ukamau movement of settlers and members of the Coordinating Assembly of High School Students (ACES), gathered in Estación Central and Providencia, respectively, as reported by local media.

In their banners, the Ukamau followers demanded the right to housing, healthcare, education and work, while the students emphasized the protagonism of the people and the importance of fighting in the streets as the only way to transform the country.

"Massive mobilization began in the downtown streets of #LaSerena."

Local media point out the symbolism of the day, during which the Constituent Convention will start the drafting of the new Magna Carta, a process that emerged from the resistance in the streets during October and November 2019.

Media have also reported that the Carabineros announced it will deploy more than 5,000 troops to try to contain the demonstrators on Monday.

The armed institution pointed out that among the most covered places will be referred to as "risk zones," including Plaza Italia (Baquedano), Villa Francia, Lo Hermida, Conchalí and Recoleta.

The director of the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH), Sergio Micco, recalled on Sunday in an interview that during the social outbreak there were serious violations of human rights in Chile.

"IN BRIEF - Two years after the #SocialOutburst in Chile, victims remain inside the National Institute of Human Rights in a peaceful takeover to denounce impunity and abandonment. From the takeover of the INDH now on 
@teleSURAgenda_A"

The repression by Carabineros of the protests left a toll of about 30 dead, thousands injured and 460 people with eye damage, after being hit in the face by pellet bullets or tear gas bombs.

Thousands of young people who were on the front lines of the demonstrations are still in prison, while the government of President Sebastián Piñera refuses to pardon them.

Micco said that the country is closer to impunity than to truth and justice, and called on the State to recognize this dire situation.

He also questioned the performance of the Prosecutor's Office and the courts in investigating, judging and sanctioning these excesses, adding that of the 3,072 complaints filed, only 136 have been formalized and to date there are only four cases of convictions.

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