Protest and Remember

My Saturday was a very emotional, busy, interesting and cultural day in Santiago.  September 11 is a very sad day for Chile as well as the United States because it was the start of the Pinochet's military dictatorship.  On 9/11/1973 socialist president Salvador Allende locked himself in his palace (after escorting his daughters to safety) and recorded a final radio message to the Chilean people before his death (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1QJ-y_xUmk&feature=related or read the English translation: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Salvador_Allende%27s_Last_Speech).  Meanwhile the majority of government leaders, intellectuals, and cultural icons were being rounded up by the army under Pinochet's rule.  Over the next 17 years of his military dictatorship thousands of people (the number of thousands is disputed) disappeared and/or were killed.
So every 9/11 there is a huge march through the city.  This year more than 8,000 people participated.

There were indigenous rights groups with dancers, and anarchists

Communists, bands and feminists

Gay rights... or maybe not in Chile yet!... but a rainbow flag for something :)

Anti-capitalist groups

(translation of the text: Capitalism likes to describe any organized action that tends against its interests "terrorism", including non-violent action).  This sign is a reaction to the government's imprisonment of indigenous Mapuche in a hunger strike under an "anti-terrorism" law.  http://www.rnw.nl/international-justice/article/chilean-opposition-members-join-mapuche-hunger-strike (I have not read this specific article but it's a good starting place if you're interested).
... as well as people who were marching in memory of missing loved ones

There were also many other political parties, soccer teams, and people marching for their own personal reasons.
People were spray painting the walls

And once in the march you could not leave because every side street was blockaded and guarded by tons of police

I spent the majority of the march with Hayley's host family.  Her host-mom is Mapuche and here we are with her flag

We were at the end of the march when we saw someone on the roof... bad news

And minutes later a mob was forming around a disturbance... burning blockades

We were far away from the mob, watching at a distance with Hayley's family, as some masked people tore down a street sign and burned an American flag

We all had lemons to counteract the tear gas that the police often release

However, Hayley and I left once the disturbance increased and waited safely behind the cemetery gate with our lemons.  Minutes after we had left many people appeared coughing, covering their mouths with scarves, tears in their eyes, and eating their lemons...

I compiled my footage from the march into this short video. I couldn't upload the full version so the end scenes are kind of impossible to see... still you can hear the smash of the street sign and the little bomb thing the guy from the roof throws.  Sorry about the quality, I tried to upload the big one three times (for over an hour) with no success.

We walked through the Santiago cemetery towards the car

There is a huge memorial for the desparecidos (those who disappeared)

In the cemetery we caught sight of one policeman hidden between the tombs, I'm sure there were many more.  Looking back towards the main street we were glad to be safely away from the disturbance

This fire was accompanied intermittently by a view of the high-pressure water that police cars shoot to fight mobs.
Leaving the protected area required to us walk by literally more than 15 or 20 police

After the march we were in need of some sillyness, music and beer

We found these glasses in our friend's apartment.  There we chatted about the march and exchanged songs because Eduardo (friend of the family) was a musician too!  Here are Hayley's host-parents:

I ate lunch with my family and then Hayley's family was kind enough to adopt me again for more excursions.  I met little Salvador, who turned five that day, and is named in honor of Allende (he REALLY likes spiderman)

And during the drive we saw many, many police

Setting sun, street murals, and distant mountains... Santiago

The sky's color this night felt fitting

We went to Via Grimaldi, now called, Parque Para la Paz (park for peace), which was a site where many, many people were tortured and killed.  Everything is rebuilt as it was (from testimonies) and there is a small museum.

It was very intense to be in this place on this day

Afterwards we joined many Chileans and many of our classmates at the Estadio Nacional, another site of hundreds of deaths.  We helped light candles for the desparecidos and we listened to short speeches separated by beautiful musical performances.  Quite a day...

That night I went back to Hayley's house, had a traditional Chilean dish and watched a concert DVD of a Chilean artist I like as well as footage of violent protests in the 80's during Pinochet's regime, then headed to a different friend's house to sample Chilean wine, exchange stories and generally relax with friends.  Early night in Chile... 3 AM.  ¡Nos vemos!