Chilean police used tear gas and water canon against hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Santiago to protest the screening of a new documentary honoring Augusto Pinochet, the late military dictator. The film, screened before an audience of over 1000 Pinochet sympathizers, pays tribute to the dictator’s miltary rule from 1973-1990. “The police are limiting our activity in order to allow activities in honour of the dictator. This is paying tribute to a criminal,” said Mireya Garcia, vice-president of the Association of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared (AFDD).
The film has ignited controversy, with regime supporters asserting the right to free speech and relatives of Pinochet’s victims calling for the documentary to be banned. Juan Gonzalez, a former military officer who leads the pro-Pinochet September 11 Corporation, dismissed such calls. “In a democracy, we have every right to present this documentary,” he said. Under Pinochet’s rule thousands of people were killed or disappeared, with researchers pointing to some 37,000 instances of torture and unlawful detention.
Via Al Jazeera.
