Chile: Policeman Who Pushed Protester off Bridge Arrested, Charged with Attempted Murder

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Chilean Prosecutor’s Office announced on Saturday the arrest of a police officer for alleged “attempted murder”, after causing a 16-year-old boy to fall off a bridge onto the bed of the Mapocho River during a protest on Friday in Santiago.

“The Prosecutor’s Office has arrested a police officer for causing the fall of a teenager from Pio Nono Bridge onto the Mapocho River. Investigations conducted since yesterday by prosecutor Patricio Macaya, team of the Prosecutor’s Office and @PDI_Chile, have established the alleged crime of attempted murder,” said a message from the central-northern Santiago Prosecutor’s Office.

The police officer, who has been suspended, will be taken to court on Sunday. After the arrest was announced, over a thousand people gathered in downtown Plaza Italia to protest with flags, horns, and shouting, two weeks before the first anniversary of the 2019 protests.

The 16-year-old fell from the Pio Nono bridge, at least five meters above the almost dry bed of the Mapocho River, during a protest around Santiago’s Plaza Italia on Friday when a group of protesters was being chased by police troops.

The episode has shocked Chile and has unleashed a new wave of criticism against the Carabineros (militarized police) for their repression during demonstrations.

The independent National Institute of Human Rights (INDH), which has been monitoring the social unrest since it started in October 2019, assured that the young man is in stable condition and asked the Carabineros to “clarify the situation”.

Footage recorded by a television station shows the young man falling after being pushed against the bridge railing by a police officer.

“The footage is being reviewed, statements are being taken and these will determine if the police pushed him or if this young man fell when the police wanted to detain him,” Enrique Monrás, a Carabineros General said in a statement to the press on Saturday. According to Monrás “what happened there was a detention. Unfortunately this person lost his footing and fell.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of the Interior and Safety, Victor Perez, stated that this was a police operation at a time of violence. “We condemn, as we have always done, all acts of violence and human rights abuses, but we believe that the investigations should provide clarity on whether or not the police protocols were complied with and whether or not the events are criminal,” Perez said in a statement at the Government Palace.

The Children’s Ombudsman, an independent body that protects minors, said that a complaint will be filed against the officer involved for the crime of attempted murder and requested that more evidence be collected. The incidents are being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office.

The Socialist Party’s spokesperson in Parliament, Luis Rocafull decried the incident. “As a result of this unfortunate incident we have already made the decision as an opposition party on three points: the immediate removal of the General Director of the Carabineros, he must leave now, we can’t wait any longer. Until this occurs, we will not approve the 2021 budget for the Carabineros. And third, we are going to file a complaint against the Minister of the Interior, Victor Perez,” Rocafull explained.

Further, the socialist deputy announced that they will file a complaint “against those who are responsible for this condemnable and criminal incident.” Other opposition voices have stated that the Carabineros “requires a total reform to be in accordance with a democracy that places dignity and human rights at its center.”

Since the start of social unrest in Chile, the police force has been in the spotlight and has been accused by international bodies such as the UN, Amnesty International (AI) or Human Rights Watch (HRW) of employing excessive force and committing serious human rights violations during protests.

Chile is experiencing the most severe social crisis since the end of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990), which began in 2019 as a protest against the rise in the price of subway fares and became a revolution for a fairer economic model.

The riots have left over thirty dead, thousands injured and arrested, in addition to episodes of extreme violence with fires, looting, and destruction of public property.

Source: infobae