Chile: The Police Violence on Students

Demonstrators gather in Plaza de Armas to march in
commemoration of Manuel Gutiérrez's death.  (Lee Purvey/
The Santiago Times.)

Students, family and activists will commemorate first anniversary of Manuel Gutiérrez’s death at the hands of police amid rising tensions between the student and police

This Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Manuel Gutiérrez, a high school student shot to death by an officer of Chile’s uniformed police during a demonstration last year. Gutiérrez has since become a symbol of students’ calls against abuses by the carabineros, Chile’s uniformed police, and the anniversary is set to be marked by various commemorative demonstrations.

The investigation of Manuel’s death was taken up by a military tribunal, rather than in civil court, in accordance with Chilean law but the victim's family and a group called the Committee for Justice for Manuel Gutiérrez Reinoso fear the injustice and have been engaged in a lengthy battle to see that those responsible face trial and, on a larger scale, to amend Chilean law regarding the trial of members of the police.

In repeated declarations posted on the website of the Federation of Students of the University of Chile (FECH), Manuel’s family has denounced the military proceedings, calling them “a hoax” and “ineffective.”

Carabineros detain protesters. Photo courtesy of
 Universidad Jesuita Alberto Hurtado/Facebook.

Tensions between police and students arose after Thursday’s student protests, which left 139 people arrested, 18 police officers wounded.

One such tension stems from the unauthorized entrance of uniformed police, or carabineros, at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado in downtown Santiago. Police traditionally are not allowed to enter university campuses without prior authorization by university officials.

“In the face of these actions, the university expresses its repudiation of the violent manner in which carabineros entered our establishment and the fact that university authorities were not previously informed and consulted, as is the standard procedure for police forces,” Universidad Alberto Hurtado officials said in a press release.

The controversy worsened after the carabineros were accused of violence and sexual assaults on female students.