Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera has acknowledged that the police committed “abuses” when dealing with protests which have been rocking the country for the past month.

He said “there was excessive use of force” in the police response to mass protests against inequality. There would be “no impunity” for those who committed excesses and abuses, he added. Twenty-two people have been killed and more than 2,300 injured.

In a televised speech, President Piñera acknowledged for the first time since the protests began that “abuses and crimes were committed, and the rights of all were not respected”.But he also criticised protesters who had engaged in acts of violence such as arson and attacks on the security forces, saying there would be no impunity either for them “nor for those [security agents] who committed excesses and abuses“.(BBC)…[+]