Various incidents have been recorded during the last hours of this Tuesday as part of the Young Combatant’s Day. In the capital, the day has been marked by various clashes at various points.
During the early hours of the morning, for example, in the commune of San Bernardo, according to information from Carabineros, individuals threw blunt objects at police vehicles that traveled to Colón Sur avenue with Chacao, in addition to interrupting vehicular traffic in the sector with barricades. According to police, no injuries were reported.
#SanBernardo: COP personnel carry out warning loudspeakers to people who throw objects at police vehicles and interrupt traffic with barricades on Avenida Colón Sur and Chacao. Caution to motorists, prefer alternative routes. #PreventionIsOurEssence pic.twitter.com/C5xWqs6xDh
– Police Prefecture of Maipo (@CarabPrefMaipo) March 29, 2022
It was not the only point in the capital where disorders were registered. In El Bosque, Huechuraba, Peñalolén and Maipú, Carabineros recorded arrests for the installation of incendiary barricades.
Around 8:30 am on Gran Avenida, height of 9740 unknown individuals set fire to tires and interrupted traffic. The police had to act to clear the road.
At the Grecia Roundregarding, meanwhile, around 3:00 p.m., a Red bus was burned by unknown individuals. According to the first records, regarding 25 individuals intimidated the driver of the vehicle on route 506, forcing him to go down to burn the transport.
Complicated transit through the Grecia Roundregarding. They just burned a bus. closed east greece #transit #Protest pic.twitter.com/VlWw9JZLpu
– ???? Raúl Patipelado Alvial (@ alvial25) March 29, 2022
Rampage during the night
After 7:00 p.m., the closure of the Santa Lucía Metro stations, Universidad de Chile (with the combination between L1 and L3 suspended) and also Plaza de Puente Alto, on Line 4, were reported. In addition, users began to notice a decrease frequently on the buses of the Red system to get to their homes.
On the outskirts of said station in the south-eastern sector of the capital, attacks by demonstrators once morest Carabineros troops who were trying to restore public order were recorded.
When night fell, the “kidnapping” of a bus from the capital’s transport system was recorded at the intersections of Avenida Grecia with Manuel Carballos, which was partially burned by the protesters.
After 9:00 p.m., different burning barricades were also registered in the vicinity of Avenida Grecia and Tobalaba, as well as in Villa Francia, in Central Station, following a commemorative act by the Vergara Toledo brothers. In the place, incidents were reported at the intersection of Avenida 5 de Abril and Quemchi, where police officers and hooded men would have clashed. A police car was also attacked by Molotov cocktails that would have entered the vehicle, although according to preliminary information, no officials were injured.
Additionally, incendiary barricades were recorded in the town of La Pincoya and attacks on the 54th Huechuraba Police Station. In the commune, a police officer was also injured in one of his eyes when he was driving a water spray car that dispersed the disorders. The police vehicle received a shot that hit the frame of the windshield and caused the policeman to receive glass splinters in his face, and he had to be taken to the Carabineros Hospital in Ñuñoa.
In addition, in San Bernardo, on Avenida Padre Hurtado, barricades were also lit and shots were fired. Additionally, a group of unknown persons tried to steal materials from the Metro Line 2 extension work. After 11:50 p.m., barricades were also reported in the Bajo de Mena population in Puente Alto.
Meanwhile, barricades were also registered in Pudahuel, in the vicinity of Oceanía and La Estrella. In the neighboring commune of Renca, the incendiary obstacles occurred in José Miguel Infante with Cruz Grande, towards the west of the plaza of said commune.
Incidents in the Alameda
Also during the morning, a group of regarding 100 students from the National Institute, located on Arturo Prat street with Alameda in downtown Santiago, began to install a series of barricades in the sector, which caused the total suspension of traffic between Manuel Rodriguez and Santa Rosa.
Police of Public Order arrived at the scene with water spray cars, gas spray cars and transfer cars for possible detainees.
Students and people dressed in civilian clothes threw stones and blunt objects at the uniformed police, until the officials used a megaphone to signal that public order should be restored and not provoke incidents, however, the protesters ignored the message, and dissuasive means were used.
#Santiago: Due to the fact that a group of people throws blunt objects once morest Public Order Control Personnel (COP), a warning loudspeaker is carried out in the Metro U. de Chile sector, so that their actions are abandoned.#PreventionIsOurEssence pic.twitter.com/9JBiLGxB64
– Central Prefectural Police (@CarabPrCentral) March 29, 2022
Pedestrian traffic through Arturo Prat remains closed and so far it is unknown if classes were suspended in the educational establishment.
These incidents have interrupted the normal operation of the Santiago Metro, since some of its stations, such as Baquedano and Universidad Católica, have had to close their accesses for several minutes as a result of acts of violence outside.
During the followingnoon it was possible to see how protesters entered some buildings and vandalized offices, throwing some furniture such as tables and chairs out of the windows.
According to Carabineros, 24 people were arrested for these excesses for different crimes, including one for robbery in a pharmacy and another for assault.
At the Liceo Barros Borgoño in Santiago there were also incidents. According to police information on the outskirts of the compound, a group of subjects threw 4 Molotov cocktails and fireworks, managing to arrest a 16-year-old minor, who would have been throwing the objects.
Outside the University of Christian Humanism there were also protests during the morning. According to Carabineros regarding 100 students suspended traffic and erected barricades.
In San Bernardo, demonstrators protested and stoned the front of the Municipality of San Bernardo, in addition to throwing blunt objects at police personnel. Some carried banners with the legend “only those who are forgotten die, for the Vergara brothers and the fallen.” For this fact 4 minors were arrested.
Measures
The presidential delegate of the RM, Constanza Martínez, explained that “what we are doing is monitoring how the situation is going throughout the region. Basically what we have seen that there have been disorders in the center of Santiago and that has been controlled”. And she added that in the followingnoon there will be a meeting with Carabineros to analyze the day.
Regarding the buses of the public system in the Metropolitan Region, the Minister of Transport, Juan Carlos Muñoz, said in dialogue with CNN Chile, that “the service will not be in all sectors later at night.”
“Today is a day that is critical and that is repeated every year and for which what we are implementing are contingency plans in which the most important thing in this case is to guarantee the safety of our users of the collective transport system as well as of drivers,” he said.
He assured that main axes such as Alameda-Providencia, Santa Rosa and Gran Avenida “will have service to give fluidity to the city.”
Demonstrations in regions
In regions there were also some protests by students. In Valparaíso, for example, traffic on Pedro Montt Avenue had to be cut off in both directions because protesters took the road.
????NOW [12:44] #Valparaiso: Traffic remains suspended on Av. Pedro Montt in both directions due to a demonstration. Prefer Errázuriz or Yungay as alternatives. #Caution pic.twitter.com/8XYs7RYF9n
– TransportInforma Region of Valparaíso (@TTIValparaiso) March 29, 2022
In Concepción there were also protests and barricades in various parts of the commune, such as, for example, in the Collao sector, where protesters put tires on the road and set them on fire.
This situation caused that public transport should be suspended in the Collao de Concepción sector.
12:57 Caution barricades in Av. Collao (UBB sector) #Conception pic.twitter.com/MN6wNOMy18
— TransportTeinforma Biobío Region (@TTIBiobio) March 29, 2022
In Antofagasta there were also demonstrations in the streets of the city center, which motivated the Carabineros to act with their teams to disperse the demonstrators.
In addition, the police reported that a group of protesters went to the front of the city’s 2nd Police Station, where they threw blunt elements into the premises without causing damage. So far no arrests have been reported.
#Antofagasta: At this time a group of students are blocking traffic in Prat and San Martin.
Personal Cop has called on several occasions to withdraw from the road. pic.twitter.com/OpGYCuIgEc
– Police Antofagasta Region (@CarabAntof) March 29, 2022
Government plan for the day
As reported by this mediathere will be almost 3,000 police officers assigned to safeguard public order, who will reinforce the control and prevention points in the so-called “critical points” for this type of event: Peñalolén (Grecia Avenue), Central Station (Villa Francia) and Huechuraba (La Pincoya).
In addition, the institutional helicopter will be available to “patrol” the region and thus go quickly if a policeman is wounded to be transferred to the Carabineros Hospital (Hoscar).
Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior was analyzing whether it will visit wounded police officers at the Carabineros Hospital (Hoscar) or if it will accompany the services from the central cameras. For her part, the presidential delegate of the RM, Constanza Martínez, warned that they asked the police to “respect the protocols that have been updated and to safeguard the normal behavior of that day.”
“We want it to be a quiet day,” said yesterday the government spokesperson, Camila Vallejo.
“Tomorrow (today) is an important day, a day of historical memory, day of the young combatant and our commitment, I want to point it out here with historical memory, with human rights is irreducible”he added.