11 June 2012Some 20 people were injured and over 60 detained as mass disturbances erupted in the Chilean capital of Santiago on Sunday following the premier of a documentary about former dictator General Augusto Pinochet, Univision television channel reported.
The documentary about Pinochet’s run-up to his dictatorship years that also portrayed him as the country’s savior from the Communism and an innocent victim of leftists, angered some 3,000 people, who gathered near the theater to disrupt the screening.
Police had to use tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters, who in turn hurled stones at law enforcers.
Pinochet came into power on September 11, 1973, in a military coup d'etat. According to official data, more than 3,000 people were killed on political grounds in 1973-1990, with some 28.000 people tortured.
The dictator died in December of 2006, having evaded several attempts in Chile and abroad to prosecute him for human rights abuses. |
