Chile’s month long anti-goverment protests continue as neither side backs down
After a month of daily demonstrations against Chile's Sebastián Piñera administration and back and forth street battles between protestors and security forces, all sides have become more entrenched as the violence escalates.
The public rallies started in mid-October as a student protest over a planned fare increase for Santiago's metro system, but after cell phone videos of violent reprisals from authorities went viral, the cause quickly spread throughout the country with support from Chileans of all social groups and ages. Grievances ranged from rising inequality to demands for an updated constitution – the current one has been in place since the Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship.
Sofia Jara attended Monday's protests with her two teenage grandkids. Standing in the back of a crowd of youths that were throwing stones at armored trucks, she used a spray bottle of anti-acid mixed with water to help clear the eyes of demonstrators crying from tear gas. After she patched them up, they head back to the front line with rocks in their hands, ready to target the Carabineros – Chile’s national police.
"At first, I didn't want my grandkids to go. I thought it would be too dangerous, and I remembered what it was like with Pinochet. But the kids are different now. They aren't afraid of anything, and if we don't stand up now, things will stay the same forever," she said.
Despite President Piñera giving into several demands including agreeing to update the constitution, the changes came after a series of fatal missteps that pitted security forces against the protestors. At first, he tried to crush the demonstrations through pure force unleashing Chile's carabineros and activating a state of emergency, which included a curfew in several areas of the country. During a televised conference, he called the protestors "a powerful enemy, who are willing to use violence without limit." A statent that even the head of his security forces backed away from.
However, the police on the ground seemed to take the divisive statements at face value and violently suppressed the demonstrations. Reports of indiscriminate violence, baseless detention, and even rape by the police against protestors angered the public. At least 23 people have died, several by police bullets. A doctor that was attacked by police said that there were signs they were using narcotics.
Following a rally in Santiago on Friday, 23-year-old Andre said he was running away from police when they shot out his legs from underneath him with non-lethal shotgun rounds. Although referred to as rubber bullets, they are, in fact, metal pellets the size of small marbles with a rubber casing. At close ranges, the casing peels off, and the steel core penetrates skin and tissue staying lodged under the skin.
Andres was left bleeding in the street, unable to walk. Other protestors came to his aid and residents in the apartment building in front of which he collapsed tried to wrap his legs in toilet paper to stop the bleeding. Pablo, one of Andres' friends, attempted to call an ambulance only to be told that none were available. The massive demonstrations had stretched Santiago's medical system to the max. Thinking quickly, Andres’ rescuers propped him up on a bike and walked him the two kilometers to the nearest hospital.
Santiago's protests have found a familiar pattern. Protestors gather at Plaza Italia, a large public square in the center of the city. The security forces arrive and using tear gas, non-lethal shotgun rounds, water cannons, and in some cases live rounds, they disperse the crowd firing indiscriminately. The protestors, in turn, set up roadblocks with anything that can be picked up, torn down, or dragged into the street and set on fire. Then a back and forth battle takes place with police firing into the crowd and charging them with battons drawn. The protestors respond with laser pointers, rocks, and at points even Molotov cocktails. Last week two women from the police were burned after being hit by one of the incendiary devices.
The police attempt to maneuver to surround the protestors and then chase them down. In some cases arresting the demonstrators but often shooting out their legs and leaving them in the street. Many protestors showed healed over entry wounds and lumps under their skin where the non-lethal rounds had become lodged.
"The cops want to leave us damaged so we can't come back and protest more. If they put rubber bullets in our legs or our eyes, we won't be able to protest," said 18-year-old Ignacio at a protest on Sunday. "If they could, they would kill us all."
At the hospital, doctors told Andres that he would have to wait to have the metal balls removed from his arms and legs. His injuries did not threaten life or limb, and the protests have left a long list of patients that are waiting for surgery to remove pellets from behind eyes before they can cause permanent damage.
General Mario Rozas of Chile's national police said Sunday that he had ordered for security forces to limit their use of the non-lethal rounds to life-threatening situations. Roza's statement comes after Chiles Human Rights' Institute decried the excessive use of violence by security forces earlier in the day. "Starting fires and vandalism does nothing to advance the cause of human rights, but it still does not justify the indiscriminate use of non-lethal shotgun rounds," they said in a statement.
But following Bolivia's President Evo Morales's abdication of office on Sunday, many protestors said that they fear that Pinehira will strengthen his crackdown on demonstrators out of fear of regional regime change.
The conflicts between security forces and demonstrators have left 3000 people injured as of yet, but despite the violence, Ignacio said he would continue going to the street.
"The violence used by the security forces shows how corrupt the government is. They use the boot to keep us down because they are afraid of us."