Chile’s militarized police force, the Carabineros, clashed with demonstrators in downtown Santiago on Friday as the country marked the 53rd anniversary of the 1973 military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende and ushered in Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.
About a hundred people, organized by labor unions and antifascist groups, marched along the Alameda, Santiago’s main avenue, toward La Moneda presidential palace, the very site where Allende died during the military assault decades ago. Officers deployed tear gas and water-cannon trucks after some protesters threw objects and blocked traffic, according to authorities. Chile’s Transportation Ministry confirmed that sections of the avenue were temporarily closed while police cleared the area.
Many demonstrators carried signs reading “No to pardons,” a direct rebuke of efforts by far-right political sectors pushing the government to ease prison sentences for former agents of the Pinochet regime convicted of human rights abuses.
The coup, which took place on September 11, 1973, ended Allende’s socialist government and ushered in a 17-year dictatorship marked by widespread repression. Official figures show that more than 3,000 people were killed or forcibly disappeared under Pinochet’s rule, which lasted until 1990. The anniversary remains a deeply sensitive date in Chile, reigniting debates over historical memory and accountability each year.
For more details, read the original report at jornada.com.mx.
Source: Carabineros reprimen marcha por aniversario 53 del golpe de Estado en Chile (jornada.com.mx). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: alisdare1, BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse).