Reuters (with additional material by AP). 8 September 2002. Chile coup anniversary protest turns violent.
SANTIAGO -- Protesters hurling Molotov cocktails clashed with police in the center of the Chilean capital on Sunday at an anniversary commemoration for leftists killed after Gen. Augusto Pinochet took power in a 1973 coup.
Witnesses said police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters, some of whom were hooded, on a march to a monument in Santiago's General Cemetery.
Violence is common at the annual protest, which marks the death of an estimated 3,000 people killed by the armed forces after Pinochet overthrew leftist President Salvador Allende on Sept. 11, 1973.
While most of the 1,500 demonstrators peacefully marched more than 25 blocks from downtown Santiago to the city's main cemetery, small groups of masked youth started throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at stores, bank offices and at police.
As the march went past the presidential palace, which was destroyed by air force jets during the coup, the demonstrators burned a U.S. flag.
It was widely believed that the U.S. government and CIA supported the coup.
Among the stores attacked by the demonstrators was a McDonald's restaurant, which was set on fire and had its windows smashed.
The march ended at a memorial wall erected at the cemetery to honor hundreds of victims of repression during Pinochet's 1973-90 rule.
Buried at the cemetery is Salvador Allende, the Marxist president toppled by Pinochet in the coup.
At the cemetery and in nearby streets, some of the demonstrators renewed their violent protests, erecting barricades, and throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Police responded with water trucks and tear gas. Police Col. Jorge Carmona said eight demonstrators were detained. There was no reports of injuries.
Both the army and leftist groups plan to hold small commemorations of the coup on Wednesday, when much of the world will be marking the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
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