Protests mark start of Chile Constitutional Convention

Protests were held in Santiago on Sunday just ahead of the launch of the first session of the Chilean Constitutional Convention, which will draft the nation's new constitution.

The historic moment was to be the start of several sessions over the next nine months to draft the new charter, which will replace the one written during the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Protests began when several hundred people crossed the security fences of the National Congress building where the inauguration was to take place, shouting slogans against the political system and demanding the freedom of the people who were imprisoned during social unrest in 2019.

Police fired tear gas and used water cannons.

Protesters responded by throwing stones at them.

A group of Assembly members then rose up in the room just ahead of the opening of the session, to protest against the violence and stating that the situation was unacceptable.

After an hour and a half, Carmen Gloria Valladares, the Secretary of the Election Qualifying Court, resumed the historical session.

Chileans appointed 155 people during elections in May to draft the new Constitution.

It's the world's first joint Constitution Convention upholding gender equality, with 78 men and 77 women, including 17 representatives of Indigenous groups.

The elaboration of a new Magna Carta was one of the most repeated demands by Chileans during the protests of October 2019.