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Police brutality against Indigenous people

Criminal groups burned their homes and occupied their lands; Manuel Velasco has ignored their pleas for help

Displaced Indigenous people in Chiapas - Photo: René Araujo/CUARTOSCURO.COM
26/11/2018 |15:20Fredy Martín Pérez / Corresponsal |
Fredy Martín Pérez
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In Chiapas , Indigenous people have been displaced due to violence , and when they tried to talk to the Governor, Manuel Velasco Coello , who was presenting his annual report at the local Congress on Saturday , six Indigenous people were wounded when state police tried to retract them to their campsite .

They walked 12 kilometers from Chiapa de Corzo to Tuxtla Gutiérrez and broke a fence, set up by the police , around the city's central park, to avoid protests during the event.

This first incident left a young woman wounded , Diana Pérez Hernández from the Cintalapa community, in the Ocosingo municipality . She was cared for by Red Cross paramedics .

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Two hours later, several displaced Indigenous people tried to get close to Congress , where Manuel Velasco Coello was presenting his annual report, to ask him to establish the proper conditions for them to return to their communities , but the state police sprayed them with tear gas.

This wounded six Indigenous people , who were wounded by the tear gas bombs , and an unknown number of children, men, and women were intoxicated .

The displaced people had to flee the campsite they set up outside the City Hall , leaving their belongings behind, which were stolen by unknown individuals and police officers.

During a press conference , the displaced people lamented the Governor's response.

Moreover, the Indigenous people wounded weren't cared for by the Red Cross or Civil Protection.

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