translated from Spanish: Minister Perez: “Violence is going to be confronted with the weapons that democracy and the law have”

The Minister of the Interior, Víctor Pérez, after participating in La Moneda of a coordination meeting with different authorities, including President Sebastián Piñera, took stock of what happened during the commemoration of October 18, a date that last year marked the beginning of what was called the “social outburst”. In the instance, the Secretary of State appointed Undersecretary Juan Francisco Galli, the managing general of Carabineros, Mario Rozas, and the national director of the POI, Héctor Espinosa, Pérez elaborated on this first anniversary of the emblematic date, and noted that the disorders were generated only by “minority groups”, who “sought to carry out acts of violence, vandalized, against public and private property”. In contrast, the Minister of the Interior concluded that “thanks to the action of the policemen we can say today that, despite the attempt of these sectors, the Metro stations were protected, the Transantiago buses were protected, the critical infrastructure was protected, and therefore daily life will not be altered by the action of these violent groups that want to destroy , they want to damage, harm and sow terror.” Although he noted that “Unfortunately we have to express that two religious precincts have been damaged as a product of the action of these violent ones and therefore we make and reiterate a call for all citizens to repudiate these facts. Burning churches is an expression of brutality, which we must strongly condemn.” Perez also stated that “we will continue to protect” citizens, as during the night dismantling could continue to occur and emphasized that “we know and the government is aware that violent groups are going to try to continue to act and cause harm and we will confront them, because violence will confront them with the weapons that democracy and the law have , as is the action of Carabineros and the Investigation Police, which are currently unfolding, as they have done all day to prevent looting and violence.”

Original source in Spanish