Carabineros de Chile are today facing a complaint filed by the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) for cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment against five students, four of them under the age of 18.
On 12 September, after a ceremony in homage to the victims of the 1973 coup d’état, police officers used illegal force to arrest the students who were outside the Liceo 1 Javiera Carrera high school in central Santiago.
According to the INDH, four of them received irritant sprays in the face and some were also dragged.
Meanwhile, the fifth victim suffered two shocks from a water truck that caused her to fall and was also hit by a tear gas bomb, so she had to be taken to an emergency hospital and has, among other sequelae, a cervical contusion.
In view of these events, described as disproportionate violence, the headquarters of the INDH in the Metropolitan Region filed an appeal before the Seventh Court of Guarantee of Santiago for the crime of unlawful coercion.
«The facts described in the complaint show a procedure in which the use of force was absolutely unjustified, disproportionate and outside any permitted framework,» said the regional head of the INDH, Beatriz Contreras.
In addition to the INDH’s complaint, 17 deputies have filed a formal complaint with the director of the Carabineros, Ricardo Yáñez, and the Ministry of the Interior, requesting that measures be taken in response to these acts, which constitute serious violations of the human rights of the teenage girls.
The legislators call for thorough investigations and the punishment of those responsible for the excessive use of force.
In addition, they request that the Ministry of the Interior take action to ensure that these acts are not repeated and that the rights of any person to participate in peaceful demonstrations are respected.
«It is intolerable that excessive repression continues to be allowed, especially when the victims are teenagers exercising their right to protest,» said MP Carmen Hertz.
Meanwhile, officials, teachers and workers of Liceo 1 expressed their deep concern and rejection of the violent and excessive intervention of carabineros that affected the educational community.
