Clashes follow priest's death

by Peter Stanford VIOLENT demonstrations have followed the death of a French priest in Chile in an escalation of protests at the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet who this week celebrated 11 years in office.
Fr Andre Jarlan of the Oblate Order was killed on September 4 in the working district of La Victoria near Santiago, the capital.
The Ministry of the Interior has announced a full investigation into his death which came amid violent clashes between riot police and crowds of demonstrators during two days of protests against the Government.
Fr Jarlan was killed by two bullets came from police weapons.
Fr Pierre Dubois, a Belgian, who worked with Fr Jarlan among the poor of Santiago, siad last week that his colleague's death was not an assassination.
"But it wasn't an accident", he added. "It's what happens in all these poor areas. The bullet was not aimed at Andre, but it was aimed at anyone who happened to be around and that included Andre since he shared the fate of the people here".
During the two days of protest eleven people were killed, bringing to 100 the number of demonstrators who have died since May 4983, and about 300 people were arrested. Among the dead was a 14-year-old boy.
Rioting also took place in other cities throughout Chile under the auspices of the opposition Democratic Alliance which is demanding a return to civilian rule. President Pinochet came to power in 1973 in a coup which left the elected President, Salvador Allende, dead.
In August, for the first time, the Catholic hierarchy gave their support to protests against the Government. In his homily at Fr Jarlan's funeral on September 7, Archbishop Juan Francisco Fresho of Santiago told 20,000 mourners in the Cathedral that violence and injustice could not continue,
The murder of Fr Jarlan was "a message from God to stop the violence and to listen to the people who are only asking for work and justice" the Archbishop said. "It is a message from God so there is no more hate". The Archbishop went on to urge Chileans to stop treating each other as enemies and realise that there would never be peace in their land in an atmosphere of terror, violence and death.
After the Mass some 3,000-4,000 people joined a procession back to Fr Jarlan's home, and some violent protests broke out with groups crying "Justice, justice". Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The body of Fr Jarlan has now been flown back to France, while the French Government continued to demand a full enquiry into his death.
No Government official attended the funeral, but at the same time General Pinochet was seen at the memorial service in the town of Copiapo for Lieutenant Julio Briones, a member of the secret police who was killed during riots in the town. Bishop Fernando Arixtia of Copiapo said that the dead man had been mingling with students when he was killed by a bullet fired by police.
The Chilean College of Doctors has this week protested at the actions of riot police and has expressed its concern that they are "specially conditioned psychologically to repress", or are "acting under the influence Of drugs".