On Tuesday afternoon, August 23rd, heavy police forces raided TIAO squat (Independent Arts and Crafts Workshop) located at Yungay Street in Valparaíso. TIAO squat has been a hub for autonomous and self-organized projects for the last five years.
Cops fully armed broke the metal doors and the windows and invaded the building causing extensive damages, also to part of the squat’s infrastructure. During the attack, the executioners of the Chilean State handcuffed the comrades who were inside the squat at gunpoint while the crime lab unit was screening the space. In the meantime, strong police forces with water cannons and armoured tear gas vehicles were outside, while patrol and traffic police forces had sealed the surrounding streets making it impossible for people to approach in solidarity.
The police operation lasted for over an hour; the cops invaded without presence of a prosecutor, and the address written on the investigation order didn’t correspond to the actual one. As in most places of the ‘civilized world,’ the repressive mechanisms in $hile do not bother to follow legitimate procedures when it comes to intimidating those who resist and fight against parliamentary democracy and capitalism.
On the same day another cultural squat was also raided in the university district of Santiago. As in the case of TIAO squat, the police went in search of materials used for Molotov cocktails, but in both cases did not find anything related.
These attacks on free social centers remind us of the excessive police operations and the ‘caso bombas‘ frame up one year ago. They took place just a few hours before the 48hour general strike (August 24th-25th), in an attempt to disable the radical social movement that seeks the total overthrow of the regime.
We do not forget our brothers and sisters
who fight against the State and the Capital!
HANDS OFF THE SQUATS
SOLIDARITY WITH THE REVOLTED PEOPLE IN $HILE!
source: liberaciontotal.lahaine.org