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Three shot, two arrested in Chilean May Day clashes
Updated 17:41, 02-May-2022
CGTN
A group of truck drivers demanding greater safety on the roads, better working conditions and a reduction in the price of fuel, blocks Route 5 in Paine, about 40 km south of Santiago, Chile, April 26, 2022. /CFP

A group of truck drivers demanding greater safety on the roads, better working conditions and a reduction in the price of fuel, blocks Route 5 in Paine, about 40 km south of Santiago, Chile, April 26, 2022. /CFP

Three people were shot and two were arrested in clashes at May Day demonstrations on Sunday in Santiago, Chile, AFP has reported, citing local police.

The shootings occurred during a march called by a union, as some protesters erected barricades and entered commercial premises, clashing with merchants.

"There were clashes between street vendors who unfortunately used firearms and injured three people, two of them women and a third man was also injured by a ballistic impact," said Enrique Monras, chief of police for the metropolitan area.

Police have arrested foreigners suspected of firing the shots.

The country's President Gabriel Boric decried the violence and told a news channel: "We are normalizing violence, we cannot allow criminal gangs to take over the streets of our country."

Separately, the main traditional May Day march, organized by the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) union, passed without incident as thousands of people with flags and banners gathered in the Plaza Italia.

(With input from AFP)

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