Chilean police shoot and injure Rapa Nui native rights campaigners

HONOLULU—Chilean police attacked a native land protest in Rapa Nui this morning, shooting and injuring at least six individuals. The protest, led by members of the Tuko Tiki clan, had maintained a 3-month occupation of land in the civic center area of Hanga Roa, the main town of Rapa Nui, part of a long-standing land and governance dispute.

Santi Hitorangi, a filmmaker, was documenting the attacks, but was shot. His footage is not yet available.

Hitorangi said that people have been shot indiscriminately: “People are brutalized, victimized, under psychological duress, and dislodged from own land ... The ones who are still standing are willing to give up their lives.”

The indigenous Rapa Nui people are cousins to the Kanaka Maoli of Hawaii, and have lived under Chilean rule since 1888.

Information in English is sparse.

From The Clinic:
http://www.theclinic.cl/2010/12/03/la-batalla-en-rapa-nui/

A list of those shot:
http://www.theclinic.cl/2010/12/03/listado-de-heridos-por-represion-policial-en-rapa-nui/

From University of Chile Radio:
http://radio.uchile.cl/noticias/93122/

On Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/search/rapa%20nui

On Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_clinic/sets/72157625397454943/

In English:
http://saverapanui.org/?p=396

Arnie Saiki contributed to this report.