SANTIAGO, Dec. 11, (Xinhua) -- One hundred people were arrested and dozens more were injured during the riots from Sunday night to early Monday in Chile after the death of former President Augusto Pinochet.

    Vice Minister of the Interior Felipe Harboe condemned on Monday the violent acts in Santiago and urged people to exert "social responsibility" in order to avoid further incidents.

    "Security measures will be enforced and we will demand accountability from those who try to exert violence. In this country there is a right to demonstrate, but not the right to violence," he said.

    Of the scores of people injured during the riots, 43 were policemen, he added.

    Former President Augusto Pinochet, 91, died on Sunday without being held accountable for any of his crimes, which include the torture and murder of thousands of leftist opposition members.

    "This is a national event, but there is no reason for not functioning in peace and calm," he stressed.

    The government has planned a wide security operation around the Military School where there will be a vigil over Pinochet's remains, for fear that it might become a violent scenario in the capital.

    Harboe reaffirmed the government backs police actions in order to prevent demonstrations from getting out of control.

    "Everything was provided for thousands of people to express themselves in a peaceful manner, but a minority group did not understand this and committed acts of violence. When they tried to overcome the police's ring and to arrive near Morande street (nearLa Moneda), the carabineros had to proceed to dissolve the group," Harboe said.

    On Sunday afternoon and evening in Santiago, some 5,000 demonstrators took to the street and about 1,000 people across the country also participated in the demonstration.

    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 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.

    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.