According to La Tercera, police arrested 29 people in Santiago on Sunday, October 18, during the commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the social unrest. Uniformed police counted around 2,500 attendees in Plaza Baquedano.
18-O is the name given to the social unrest that began on October 18, 2019. It was a wave of mass protests across Chile over social, economic, political and cultural demands.
Claudio Alvarado, who heads both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the General Secretariat of Government, condemned the violence. "When that does not happen and violence is sought as a means of political action, it is totally and absolutely reprehensible," he said when asked for the government's assessment.
Alvarado also rejected the portrayal of the incidents as social protest. He stated that "this is simply vandalism, crime and other phenomena" unrelated to the expression of social discontent.
Three groups called the demonstration: the Central Clasista de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores, the Plataforma Anticapitalista Vereda Sur and the Asamblea Popular Antifascista. According to the outlet, the gathering had no authorization from the Presidential Delegation for the Metropolitan Region.
Police Inspector General Manuel Cifuentes said a group of hooded individuals had allegedly attacked police officers with blunt objects. They then allegedly used incendiary devices, including Molotov cocktails.
Among those arrested whom police highlighted was a person accused of carrying and throwing an incendiary device at police officers. Another was arrested for robbery with violence at a business, and a third for damaging public security cameras on the Alameda.
For now, these people are only under arrest. For a case against them to proceed, the Prosecutor's Office must formally notify them before a judge that they are under investigation. The report provides no information about hearings, charges or case numbers.
Cifuentes reported that some officers had eye injuries. He clarified that the institution did not yet have an official figure for the total number of injured police officers.
