Police tear-gassed and hurled water from cannons at protesters in front of Chile's national Congress in Valparaiso on Tuesday after a Senate commission delayed a vote on a controversial fishing law that seeks to redistribute quotas between artisanal and industrial fishers.
At least one police officer was injured and several people were detained after protesters knocked down a gate surrounding the building, attempting to enter Congress before being repelled by teargas, water cannons and baton-wielding police in riot gear.
Reuters footage showed huge armoured police vehicles spraying barrels of water at protesters carrying the Chilean flag.
Earlier in the day, a few thousand fishermen gathered at docks in Valparaiso to march to Congress to protest against the law that they said favours a few industrial fishing companies. They carried banners that read “The sea is not for sale,” in Spanish.
Hugo Poblete, a union leader for fishers in Quintero in central Chile, was one of hundreds of fishermen gathered outside the building watching the Senate finance commission debate the new law on a large screen.
“The point being debated is the fractioning, or percentages, that each sector (artisanal and industrial) gets from different species,” Poblete said, adding artisanal fishers had a beneficial percentage when the law passed the lower house, including 70% for hake and 90% for cuttlefish, the two most important species for local small fishers.
The percentages have been reduced as the bill made its way through the Senate, which artisanal fishers and unions view as favouring large industrial fishing companies, prompting them to protest. On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate commission agreed to postpone the vote and continue debate.