SANTIAGO, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chilean police arrested
some demonstrators in an unrest in some Chilean cities, especially the capital,
following the death of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet.
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Demonstrators are seen outside Chile's
Military Hospital where Pinochet died in Santiago Dec. 10, 2006. (Xinhua
Photo)
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According
to the police, some 5,000 demonstrators took to the street on Sunday afternoon
and evening in Santiago, and about 1,000 people across the country also
participated in the demonstration.
By far, some 10 protestors who were celebrating the
death of Pinochet had been detained and six policemen were injured during a
clash with the demonstrators.
The supporters and opponents of Pinochet gathered
around the Santiago Military Hospital where the former president died.
On Sunday afternoon, Pinochet's supporters attacked
passing-by vehicles around the hospital with stones and Chilean police were
deployed on the street to keep order.
Thousands of Chileans danced in the streets of the
capital to celebrate his death, and police fired water cannon and tear gas on
anti-Pinochet demonstrators who threw back metal bars and bottles and lit
car-sized bonfires on downtown streets.
Small-scale violence erupted when police tried to
stop a crowd of more than 1,000 people marching down the capital's main avenue,
Alameda. Police used water cannons and threw gas canisters to stop the crowd,
while the demonstrators fired back with stones and bottles.
Pinochet, who came into power through a U.S.-supported coup in 1973, died Sunday at the Military Hospital a week after suffering a heart attack. He will be buried with military honors but without a state funeral or national mourning.
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