Stuff happened in Angol

Well I may have mentioned before that my region (similar to states in the U.S.), Araucanía, has the highest concentration of Mapuche people in the country.  The Mapuche are the largest Native American group in the southern portion of Chile (and Argentina a little), and, much like Native American groups in the U.S., their relationship and history with the government is a bit rocky.  They want rights to their old land (Araucanía) and autonomy, among other things, and unfortunately there are a lot of violent police-Mapuche confrontations.  I am trying to remain as objective as possible here, though a lot of the people here who have explained this issue to me were far from objective.

So far I had not seen any of this conflict myself.  I have not, admittedly, seen that many Mapuche people at all, because Angol is not nearly as associated with the Mapuche community as other places in the region.  But I have seen, of course, general cultural influences; various words in the Mapuche language are used by Chileans in everyday vocabulary--like "wawa" for "baby"--and there are Mapuche artesanal markets in the larger cities and towns around here.  But last week the Mapuche conflict came to Angol. 

Early last week a Mapuche man was found dead on the side of the road a few towns over, killed by a gunshot wound.  Given their history with the police ("carabineros") and the fact that, apparently, the road was used almost exclusively by the local police, the Mapuche community suspected (blamed) a police officer for the murder.  The police, who had brought the body here to Angol for investigation, denied any connection.  A large group of representatives of the Mapuche community came to Angol to retrieve the body and take it back with them, and to make something of a processional rally out of it. They were sympathetic gatherings in the regional capital, Temuco, and in Santiago.  One thing led to another here, and the group became violent, and windows were smashed and cars and shops were bashed.  The town center was blocked off, and police turned on the water cannons and there was a general melee.  These photos are from the following news story: http://www.canaldenoticias.cl/2013/08/07/graves-incidentes-en-el-centro-de-angol-tras-traslado-de-cuerpo-de-comunero-asesinado/

But not to worry! No one was seriously injured, and everything in Angol went back to being quiet and peaceful by the afternoon.  I was at school all day and didn't even know anything had happened until I got home (and my host mom casually mentioned the town center had been blocked off because there was a Mapuche thing). Angol sees hardly any conflict, Mapuche or otherwise, and this only happened here because this was the nearest legal medical center for the police to bring the body that morning.  So, as intrigued as I was, there's very little chance of any sort of repeat confrontation here.  [Read: no reason to worry, mom!]