Armed men raid Chilean union office

Press, 9 July 1983, Page 10

Armed men raid Chilean union office

NZPA-Reuter Santiago Armed men yesterday raided the headquarters of a Chilean union group that has spearheaded recent protests against Genera] Augusto Pinochet’s military Government and took away several people, a union official says.

The National Union Coordinating Group is the most radical of five labour organisations engaged in the demonstrations. It announced earlier yesterday that it was backing a third day of protest planned for July 12. A union official, Arturo

Valdes, said that about 24 men, carrying sub-machine-guns and dressed in civilian clothes, had arrived in unmarked cars and destroyed furniture and taken away office equipment. They did not identify themselves. The independent Radio Co-operativa said that five people had been taken from the office. Mr Valdes said that he and others in the headquarters at the time had been locked in a room and did not see what happened to people who arrived during the two hours the raid lasted. In another incident 250

paramilitary policemen sealed off Santiago’s main square and blocked a march by about 50 relatives of people who have disappeared mysteriously.

The Plaza de Armas was closed to traffic at the height of the evening rushhour and crowds gathered as the relatives shouted slogans. At least six people had been taken away by the police although there were no serious incidents, onlookers said. After about 30 minutes the police began to withdraw and the square was opened to traffic again.