By IANS
Santiago : At least 36 people have been arrested as the police evicted a group of protesters from a cathedral in northwestern Chilean city of Concepcion, the police said.
The city’s archbishop Ricardo Ezzati had called for the eviction after talks failed with protestors, who had occupied the cathedral since last week to support local activist Patricia Troncoso, who has been on a hunger strike since Oct 10, 2007, Spain’s EFE news agency reported Monday.
Troncoso completed her 109th day without food Sunday to protest a 10-year prison sentence relating to an arson attack on forestland and seek the recovery of ancestral lands. She has been fighting for the cause of the Mapuche or the indigenous inhabitants of central and southern Chile.
The police move came in the morning when special personnel from the Carabineros – Chile’s militarised police – entered the church and arrested the six activists and 30 other people who were in the surrounding area supporting the occupation, Colonel Ivan Bezmalinovic of the police said.
Archbishop Ezzati said that the Catholic Church respects just causes, but he added that the right of the community to participate in religious ceremonies must be respected.
The demonstrators were charged with crimes of taking over and damaging public property, but all were released on bail Sunday.
Troncoso, who has lost 25 kg, remains in a hospital guarded by Gendarmeria personnel – who normally guard the country’s prisons – and is said to be in critical condition.
Bishop Alejandro Goic, president of the Chilean Episcopal Conference, said the Catholic Church would continue to mediate the case of the Mapuche Indians.