Chile arrests 284 at Pinochet dictatorship protests

Chilean authorities arrested 284 people during demonstrations commemorating victims of Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship, Public Security Minister Martin Arrau said on Saturday.

Arrau said on X that the arrests on Thursday and Friday were an 80 percent increase from the previous year. He said those arrested included 16 foreign nationals and 31 minors, and that there were 198 incidents of violence but no civilian injuries.

The protests marked the September 11, 1973 coup led by Pinochet against socialist president Salvador Allende. Demonstrators threw sticks and stones at riot police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons.

This year was the first since the end of Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule that Chile held no official events marking the era. President Jose Antonio Kast, who took office in March, said: "I cannot erase history, nor can I ask our compatriots to accept that we are condemned by our history to be unable to look toward our nation's future."

Under Pinochet, more than 3,200 people were killed or disappeared, while tens of thousands were tortured or imprisoned.

The biggest demonstration took place at Santiago's General Cemetery, where the Allende family mausoleum is located. Other events took place at the presidential La Moneda Palace, where Allende died by suicide, and at the National Stadium, which the Pinochet regime used as a site for detention and torture.