Chile: Violent clashes erupt during remembrance march of coup anniversary

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Chile: Violent clashes erupt during remembrance march of coup anniversary

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Violent clashes break out in Chile during an annual march to commemorate the 1973 coup.

12 September,2011 11:35 am

Protesters battled police in Chiles capital on Sunday as violent clashes broke out when demonstrators marched in remembrance of a military coup that ended the rule of Marxist President Salvador Allende some 38 years ago.Youths blocked roads, threw rocks and set fire to piles of trash at intersections. Police then used water cannon and tear gas to defuse the latest rash of social unrest against conservative billionaire President Sebastian Pineras policies. Television footage from the scene of the protests showed at least two people being detained by police.Led by students demanding free education, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent months to call for greater distribution of the income of a copper price boom in the worlds top producer of the metal.While Latin Americas model economy is seen expanding 6.6 percent this year and is an investor magnet thanks to prudent fiscal and monetary policies, many ordinary Chileans feel they are not sharing in Chiles economic miracle.Sundays march is held annually to commemorate Salvador Allende, who was 65 when he died and is venerated by the left as a champion of the downtrodden. His portrait gazes from posters in street markets alongside those of other left-wing heroes such as Che Guevara and Karl Marx.Allende won the presidential election in 1970 at the head of a socialist-communist coalition and launched a radical programme, nationalising the copper industry and private banks and handing back land to peasant farmers.His election infuriated US president Richard Nixon and his economic policies met violent opposition from Chilean business and foreign capital dried up and inflation soared to 300 percent.The military, claiming popular support, launched an air strike on the Moneda presidential palace as Allende sat inside in September 1973.His body was found in the smoking ruins.