A peaceful march marking the 31st anniversary of the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet ended in clouds of tear gas and smoke from firebombs as police clashed with masked demonstrators.
The day before, retired General Luis Cortes said that Pinochet was in "the final stage" of his life "living in deep sadness" because of his judicial problems.
He's been stripped from his immunity from prosecution and may be tried on human rights charges. In addition, he is being investigated about the source of up to US$8 million he secretly deposited in a Washington bank.
On Saturday afternoon, police General Hector Henriquez said 25 protesters were detained and six police were wounded. One officer was seen bleeding after being hit in the face with a rock.
As in previous years, renewed protests broke out at night in several working-class districts and slums in Santiago, with demonstrators erecting barricades and setting them on fire at a number of intersections.
Police used tear gas and water trucks in running battles with the demonstrators. A number of protesters were detained. Scat-tered gunshots were heard.
Pinochet spent the day at his suburban Santiago mansion receiving some former aides.
His spokesman, retired General Guillermo Garin, said Pinochet "remains in delicate but stable health condition. He has not had any crisis recently."
On Saturday, about 5,000 people marched 30 blocks from downtown Santiago to the city's main cemetery. At one point, the march passed next to La Moneda, the presidential palace where Salvador Allende, the Marxist president toppled in the coup, committed suicide rather than surrender to the military.
At the cemetery, the demonstrators gathered at a memorial wall erected for the victims of Pinochet's 1973-90 dictatorship. According to an official report, 3,197 people were killed for political reasons under Pinochet.
As the marchers left the cemetery, small groups of mostly hooded demonstrators broke from the march and began throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at police, who reacted using tear gas and water cannons.
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