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Protests marking the 53rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 1973 coup that overthrew socialist President Salvador Allende drew thousands of people to Santiago and other Chilean cities on Friday and Saturday.
Chilean police detained 284 people during the demonstrations, which also commemorated the more than 3,200 people killed or disappeared under Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship.
Those detained included 31 minors and 16 foreign nationals, Public Security Minister Martin Arrau announced.
Rallies also took place at the La Moneda presidential palace and Chile's National Stadium.
Allende held out inside the government palace until his death by suicide, while demonstrators recalled that the sports stadium had served as a detention and torture center following the coup.
“This year, during September 11 and its eve, there were 198 incidents of violence, 34% fewer than in 2025, and 284 arrests, an 80% increase. There were no civilians injured and no damage to public transport,” Arrau posted on X.
Amid separate clashes, protesters threw stones and sticks at police officers, while officers responded with tear gas and water cannons.
The events drew Salvador Allende’s daughter and former senator Isabel Allende, as well as left-wing former president Gabriel Boric, who preceded current President Jose Antonio Kast in office.
Kast's government did not hold an official commemorative event this year, the first time that has happened since 1990.
Speaking in the southern Los Ríos region on Friday, the president defended his decision: “Just as I cannot erase history, neither can I ask our compatriots to be condemned by our history to being unable to look towards the future of our nation,” he said.
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