Chilean police used water cannons and tear gas on Monday (October 12) to disperse protesters marching in Santiago as demonstrators marked the Day of the Encounter of Two Worlds.

Many demonstrators, including Mapuche, gathered for the march, playing instruments and dancing as armoured vehicles and water-cannon trucks lined the street. Clouds of tear gas rose as riot police moved toward the crowd, and some protesters ran for cover.

The date is known in Chile as the Day of the Encounter of Two Worlds, which replaced the former “Day of the Race” holiday in 2000.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SANTIAGO, CHILE (OCTOBER 12, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF WATER CANNON SPRAYING PROTESTERS

2. PEOPLE PROTESTING AND TEAR GAS CLOUD

3. RIOT POLICE DURING PROTEST

4. POLICE, WATER CANNON TRUCKS AND ARMOURED VEHICLES ON STREET

5. POLICE WALKING TOWARD DEMONSTRATORS

6. DEMONSTRATORS DURING PROTEST

7. DEMONSTRATORS DURING PROTEST AND CANNON TRUCKS AND ARMOURED VEHICLES IN THE BACKGROUND

8. DEMONSTRATORS RUNNING AWAY

9. VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING

10. VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS PLAYING INSTRUMENTS

11. VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS DANCING

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MAPUCHE AND LAW STUDENT, ISMAEL ANTILLANCA, SAYING:

"Today marks 500 years since the arrival of the Spanish colonizers. We do this day precisely to remember the resistance of indigenous peoples and to demand the various demands we have, from territorial control to the recovery of our ancestral languages."

13. BANNER READING (Spanish) "They took our land but not our memory"

14. VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS PLAYING INSTRUMENTS

15. DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MAPUCHE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT, FLORENCIA GARRIDO, SAYING:

"We are here marching in community, indigenous communities of Chile, from all over the South. From Arica to Patagonia, for many injustices that have happened over many years and that keep happening."

17. DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING