Chile declares state of emergency over Mapuche conflict

President Sebastian Pinera says troops are being sent to two southern regions hit by recent acts of violence.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has announced a state of emergency and deployed troops to two southern regions where clashes have broken out between Mapuche Indigenous people and security forces.

The Mapuche are demanding the restoration of their ancestral lands and self-determination.

“We have decided to call a state of exception” in four provinces of the southern regions of Biobio and Araucania and the deployment of troops to help control “the serious disturbance of public order” there, Pinera said in a speech on Tuesday.