A police officer arrested for a minor falling off a bridge during protests in Chile

The Chilean Prosecutor's Office announced this Saturday the arrest of a policeman for alleged "attempted homicide", after causing the

under 16 years from a bridge to the bed of the Mapocho river during a protest on Friday in Santiago.

"The Prosecutor's Office detains a police officer for causing the fall of a teenager from Puente Pio Nono to Río Mapocho. Proceedings carried out since yesterday by the prosecutor Patricio Macaya, the Prosecutor's Flagrancia team and @PDI_Chile, establish an alleged crime of attempted murder," said a message from the Prosecutor's Office north-central Santiago.

The event has shocked Chile and unleashed

(militarized police) for the repression during the demonstrations.

The independent National Institute of Human Rights (INDH), which has monitored the social outbreak since it began in October 2019, assured that

and asked the Carabineros to "clarify the situation."

Images recorded by a television channel show how the young man falls into a river channel with hardly any water flow

during a demonstration in the capital's Plaza Italia.

The

institution

, which initially "flatly" denied the images, acknowledged

and according to General Enrique Monrás, the images recorded by the body video cameras that carry the agents.

The events are being

, as confirmed by the manager of the Victims Division of the Prosecutor's Office, Erika Maira.

The Children's Ombudsman, an autonomous body that ensures the protection of minors, assured that it will be sued for crimes of attempted homicide against the agent involved and requested that more evidence be collected.

Wave of criticism against the Carabineros

This episode has rekindled criticism against the police authorities, who since the beginning of the social outbreak in Chile, in October 2019, have been strongly questioned for their actions when repressing the protests.

"In these images there is no space for political positions. The institutional use of force implies responsibility," said the official deputy, Ximena Ossandón, on her Twitter account.

The seriousness of the events led an opposition group to request, once again,

, Mario Rozas, who has also been the target of criticism through social networks.

"Under his mandate, the human rights of protesters in our country have been violated, from the social outbreak to date," said Raúl Soto, a deputy for the opposition Party for Democracy (PPD).

Rozas, the highest authority of the police institution, has categorically rejected on several occasions the possible police excesses committed by some police officers.

Since the beginning of the social outbreak in Chile, the police force has been in the spotlight and has been accused by international organizations such as the UN, Amnesty International (AI) or Human Right Watch (HRW) for

and commit serious violations of human rights in the marches.

Chile is experiencing

(1973-1990).

The crisis, which began in 2019 as a protest against the rise in the price of the metro ticket, has turned into a revolt for a fairer economic model.

The riots have left more than thirty dead, thousands injured and detained, as well as episodes of extreme violence with fires, looting and destruction of public furniture.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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