Police use tear gas and water cannon during Indigenous rights march in Santiago on Chile’s October 12 holiday, as protesters demand autonomy

Indigenous rights demonstrators marched through central Santiago on October 12, calling for autonomy, territorial rights and the demilitarisation of Indigenous lands. Police used chemical agents and a water cannon to disperse a group during the march, according to Chilean media reports.

Chile marks October 12 as the Day of the Encounter of Two Worlds, commemorating Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas in 1492. Many Indigenous communities, including the Mapuche, regard the date as a symbol of colonisation, land dispossession and resistance.