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Chile: Violence on coup anniversary

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-12 14:09

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Clashes erupted in the Chilean capital Thursday night as protesters erected burning barricades and attacked police with firearms and rocks on the 35th anniversary of a bloody military coup.

A police commander told Chilean television two officers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, one of them in the chest. Local media reported at least one civilian was also shot.

The violence shattered what had been a relatively calm day on which Chileans marked the anniversary of the 1973 coup, when the right-wing Gen. Augusto Pinochet toppled elected Marxist President Salvador Allende.

Earlier, President Michelle Bachelet inaugurated the restored office suite where Allende committed suicide as the presidential palace was under attack.

The date has often been marred by violence, and while Thursday's protests were smaller than in past years, demonstrators blocked a number of intersections in working-class neighborhoods with flaming barricades.

Protesters also threw chains at power lines and knocked out power to more than 120,000 homes, authorities said. Police used water cannons and tear gas to quell protesters, and shots were heard at several points.

Pinochet's rule lasted until 1990. He died in December 2006, at age 91.