Post by scumbuster on Oct 21, 2019 6:10:46 GMT -5
Eight Dead in Riots, Fires in Chilean Capital
SANTIAGO – The death toll in the riots in Chile rose to at least eight on Sunday after firefighters confirmed that five people died in a clothing store fire in the Santiago commune of Renca.
The store caught fire after being looted during rioting in the Chilean capital that broke out last Friday over social inequality and scarcities but which were sparked by complaints over the government’s hiking of local metro fares.
Meanwhile on Sunday evening, the Chilean lower house of congress approved a bill eliminating the metro fair price hike. The bill passed in a 103-1 vote, with one abstention, and will now be forwarded to the Senate for ratification on Monday.
The bill was submitted on an urgent basis by Chilean President Sebastian Piñera with an eye toward ending the violent protests that have beset the country over the past few days.
But earlier on Sunday, violence continued in the capital and elsewhere with heavy clashes between protesters and security forces, looting, fires and pillaging.
Early Sunday afternoon authorities had hiked the death toll to three after confirming the finding of a body in a supermarket that was torched earlier in the day in Santiago, the latest fatality coming after two other people died under similar circumstances.
That third body was found amid the ruins of a store on Matucana Street in Santiago, while the other two were found in a supermarket in the capital’s San Bernardo commune, an area that rioters looted and burned.
Along with those first two bodies, authorities found the body of a third person in the Metropolitan Region who, at first, was said to have died, although authorities then said that the person was hospitalized with burns over 75 percent of their body.
Chilean Interior Minister Andres Chadwick said that on Sunday morning, at a military checkpoint in the Santiago neighborhood of Puente Alto, an incident occurred in which two people were seriously injured by gunfire.
Chadwick told reporters that some “50 violent events” occurred in the Metro Region, along with 53 other such events elsewhere in the country, on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
In addition, he said that 62 officers with the Carabineros – Chile’s militarized police – and 15 civilians were injured during the clashes over the weekend.
Finally, he said that on Sunday morning in three regions of the country police arrested 244 people who were violating the curfew imposed there.
Health Minister Jaime Mañalich said that 32 people are hospitalized in the Metro Region, 10 of them in serious condition, and that 208 people were given medical care for assorted lesser injuries.
Mañalich confirmed that a Colombian citizen died from a bullet wound, although he said that the circumstances surrounding that death have not yet been clarified.
Meanwhile, Gen. Javier Iturriaga, who is in charge of security in the Metro Region during the state of emergency decreed by the government, told reporters that Saturday night was “very unpleasant and disturbed” with vandalism and “a lot of looting” taking place.
He went on to declare another curfew in Santiago from 10 pm Sunday to 6 am Monday “to protect the lives of everyone,” in light of the weekend protests.
“We’re hoping it’s a calm day. I hope that it won’t be necessary to declare another curfew,” Iturriaga had said earlier, adding that 3,000 soldiers had been mobilized to control the situation in the Metro Region together with some 5,000 Carabineros and police.
The state of emergency has been in place in five Chilean regions since Saturday morning: almost the entire capital, Valparaiso, Concepcion, the communes of Coquimbo and La Serena in the Coquimbo region, and in the Rancagua commune since Sunday morning.
In addition, a curfew was decreed in Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepcion, as well as in La Serena, Coquimbo and Valdivia, and authorities have announced it will continue in those cities between 10 pm and 6 am.
More than 20,000 homes were reported to be without electricity in the Metro Region and a significant amount of debris was said to be littering the streets where security forces clashed with protesters.
The Santiago Metro remains closed but city buses were operating normally, while more than 90 domestic and international flights to and from the capital airport were cancelled and on Sunday morning some 5,000 people were stranded there.
The deployment of troops at various spots around the country was ordered to try and control the riots resulting from the radicalization last Friday of the protests over a hike in metro prices, the tip of the iceberg in a society fed up with scarcities, the high cost of living and inequality.
www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2484753&CategoryId=10718
SANTIAGO – The death toll in the riots in Chile rose to at least eight on Sunday after firefighters confirmed that five people died in a clothing store fire in the Santiago commune of Renca.
The store caught fire after being looted during rioting in the Chilean capital that broke out last Friday over social inequality and scarcities but which were sparked by complaints over the government’s hiking of local metro fares.
Meanwhile on Sunday evening, the Chilean lower house of congress approved a bill eliminating the metro fair price hike. The bill passed in a 103-1 vote, with one abstention, and will now be forwarded to the Senate for ratification on Monday.
The bill was submitted on an urgent basis by Chilean President Sebastian Piñera with an eye toward ending the violent protests that have beset the country over the past few days.
But earlier on Sunday, violence continued in the capital and elsewhere with heavy clashes between protesters and security forces, looting, fires and pillaging.
Early Sunday afternoon authorities had hiked the death toll to three after confirming the finding of a body in a supermarket that was torched earlier in the day in Santiago, the latest fatality coming after two other people died under similar circumstances.
That third body was found amid the ruins of a store on Matucana Street in Santiago, while the other two were found in a supermarket in the capital’s San Bernardo commune, an area that rioters looted and burned.
Along with those first two bodies, authorities found the body of a third person in the Metropolitan Region who, at first, was said to have died, although authorities then said that the person was hospitalized with burns over 75 percent of their body.
Chilean Interior Minister Andres Chadwick said that on Sunday morning, at a military checkpoint in the Santiago neighborhood of Puente Alto, an incident occurred in which two people were seriously injured by gunfire.
Chadwick told reporters that some “50 violent events” occurred in the Metro Region, along with 53 other such events elsewhere in the country, on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
In addition, he said that 62 officers with the Carabineros – Chile’s militarized police – and 15 civilians were injured during the clashes over the weekend.
Finally, he said that on Sunday morning in three regions of the country police arrested 244 people who were violating the curfew imposed there.
Health Minister Jaime Mañalich said that 32 people are hospitalized in the Metro Region, 10 of them in serious condition, and that 208 people were given medical care for assorted lesser injuries.
Mañalich confirmed that a Colombian citizen died from a bullet wound, although he said that the circumstances surrounding that death have not yet been clarified.
Meanwhile, Gen. Javier Iturriaga, who is in charge of security in the Metro Region during the state of emergency decreed by the government, told reporters that Saturday night was “very unpleasant and disturbed” with vandalism and “a lot of looting” taking place.
He went on to declare another curfew in Santiago from 10 pm Sunday to 6 am Monday “to protect the lives of everyone,” in light of the weekend protests.
“We’re hoping it’s a calm day. I hope that it won’t be necessary to declare another curfew,” Iturriaga had said earlier, adding that 3,000 soldiers had been mobilized to control the situation in the Metro Region together with some 5,000 Carabineros and police.
The state of emergency has been in place in five Chilean regions since Saturday morning: almost the entire capital, Valparaiso, Concepcion, the communes of Coquimbo and La Serena in the Coquimbo region, and in the Rancagua commune since Sunday morning.
In addition, a curfew was decreed in Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepcion, as well as in La Serena, Coquimbo and Valdivia, and authorities have announced it will continue in those cities between 10 pm and 6 am.
More than 20,000 homes were reported to be without electricity in the Metro Region and a significant amount of debris was said to be littering the streets where security forces clashed with protesters.
The Santiago Metro remains closed but city buses were operating normally, while more than 90 domestic and international flights to and from the capital airport were cancelled and on Sunday morning some 5,000 people were stranded there.
The deployment of troops at various spots around the country was ordered to try and control the riots resulting from the radicalization last Friday of the protests over a hike in metro prices, the tip of the iceberg in a society fed up with scarcities, the high cost of living and inequality.
www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2484753&CategoryId=10718