Riots erupt across Chile in response to damming in Patagonia

From the mainstream $hilean news:

SANTIAGO, Chile — Tens of thousands of people massed in the center of Chile’s capital Friday night for new protests against the government’s plan to dam two wild rivers in the country’s southern Patagonia region.

Demonstrations have spread across the country, in at least nine major cities.

Most demonstrators were peaceful, but bands of hooded protesters attacked police and smashed shop windows and damaged other property along a 10-block stretch of Santiago’s main avenue.

Demonstrators, some holding up candles, gather during a protest in front of La Moneda government palace in Santiago, Chile, Friday, May 20, 2011. The protest was against a some $7 billion project by the multinational consortium HidroAysen to dam two of the world’s wildest rivers in Chile’s Patagonia for electricity. The project recently won environmental approval from a Chilean government commission, despite a groundswell of opposition. The dams would flood part of the area, requiring the relocation of its residents. The sign reads in Spanish “No to HidroAysen. Patagonia without dams.”

The protesters started at the Plaza Italia and walked peacefully to the front of La Moneda presidential palace, carrying flags and banners denouncing the hydroelectric project that was approved for Patagonia on May 9.

At that point, hundreds of masked people began throwing rocks at police, who responded with water cannons and tear gas. The masked bands tore off metal bars and scaffolding timbers to use against police, trashed stores, wrecked signs and set fire to trash piles.

The march came a week after another protest against the planned HidroAysen project saw clashes between some demonstrators and police. Authorities had suspended police use of tear gas after that violence, but reinstated its use before Friday’s march, citing threats of violence.

Environmentalists and others are angry over the $7 billion plan to build five dams on two free-running rivers in a mostly roadless region of Patagonia known for picturesque Andean glaciers and stunning deep green valleys and fjords.

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