Protests erupt in Chile after police throw 16-year-old off bridge
Mauricio Saavedra
5 hours ago
Protests and demonstrations erupted over the weekend in Chile after video footage surfaced showing a Carabinero Special Forces police officer pushing a 16-year-old youth off the Pio Nono Bridge in Santiago.
On late Friday afternoon, nurse technicians, who have been protesting for a month for professional recognition, improved working conditions and salary increases, were joined by a spontaneous demonstration of hundreds of youth, indigenous and other social groups in the lead-up to a referendum to discard the military dictatorship’s constitution, scheduled for October 25.
By 7 p.m., the Carabineros and a squadron of Special Forces set upon the protesters with water cannon and tear gas, and made dozens of arrests. At about 7:30 p.m., as Special Forces were chasing a section of the protesters over the bridge, an officer rushed 16-year-old Anthony Araya with such force that he pushed him over bridge’s railing. The youth fell head first into the shallow Mapocho River, 5 meters below. Suffering severe head trauma, he remains in critical but stable condition.
For minutes the officers looked down upon the seemingly lifeless body lying face down in the riverbed but made no attempt to lend aid to the critically injured youth. Even while the health brigade, firemen and emergency services were initiating a rescue, police continued to fire tear gas, hindering their work.
More:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/10/06/chil-o06.html
Anthony Araya
Shocking moment Chilean police officer is caught on camera throwing a 16-year-old protester off a bridge
By ASSOCIATED PRESS and ADRY TORRES FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 13:10 EDT, 4 October 2020 | UPDATED: 13:17 EDT, 5 October 2020
A Chile police officer has been charged with attempted murder after he was captured on video apparently throwing a 16-year-old boy off a bridge during a protest.
At least two videos show the moment Anthony Araya was running with a group of anti-government protesters Friday in Santiago when officer Sebastían Zamora approached the teen from behind and tossed him over the Pío Nono Bridge. Araya crashed to the Mapocho river bed, at least 22 feet below the bridge.
The teenager was listed in stable condition with head trauma and a wrist fracture following the incident in the South American nation's capital.
Lead prosecutor Ximena Chong said: 'The cop approached the young man behind his back, lunged diagonally at the adolescent, grabbing and propelling him, raising him over the railing of the Pío Nono Bridge, making him fall more than seven meters to the river bed.' He also accused the cops at the scene of falsifying the scene report.
More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8804065/Police-officer-Chile-accused-throwing-teen-bridge.html
Link to tweet
Protesting in solidarity with Anthony Araya.
- click for image -
▶️ https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjX1TeBWsAEJFHg?format=png&name=small
Comparison of Ayala's injury to the grim imagery from the dictatorship of U.S.-supported Augusto Pinochet, this photo taken in 1973. During Pinochet's dictatorship, Chileans stood on the sidewalk along the Mapoche River in Santiago, and witnessed bodies of dissenters who had been tortured and murdered by federal police, as they floated through the city.
▶️ https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChileViolatesHumansRights?src=hashtag_click
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