After the confrontation in Cuesta del Ternero, which left a deceased person and another injured, members of Mapuche groups, human rights organizations and neighbors concentrated in the center of El Bolsón, where they caused fires of urban furniture and cut off the circulation of vehicles on different arteries.
Protesters attacked a fire engine mobile who had been summoned to put out the floodlights, so the volunteers could not intervene.
Sources from the municipality of El Bolsón confirmed Infobae that traffic inspectors of the commune diverted the traffic in the internal streets of the city, to avoid new incidents with the protesters.
In the heart of the mountain town, the protesters damaged public posters made of wood to feed the flames of the fires that they caused in different sectors, one of which is located a few meters from a service station.
“They damaged a poster in homage to the murdered photographer José Luis Cabezas, which was located in a small square that bears the name of the photojournalist,” denounced residents of El Bolsón, who are frightened by the violent claim.
Communal authorities assured that “the fire brigade’s mobile was aimed at guarding the area of the service station, to prevent the spread of flames to that place, although the protesters attacked the fire engine with stones and had to withdraw without being able to intervene.”
The group concentrated in front of the local hospital, then went to the offices of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and finally interrupted traffic in the center.
In addition, the self-styled group Winkul Lafken Mapu maintained until this Sunday night the cut off of Route 40, at the height of Villa Mascardi, in protest of the Cuesta del Calnero episode.
El Bolson had 100 percent occupancy over the long weekend. The influx of visitors increased even more this Sunday when visitors who are staying in nearby towns traveled to El Bolsón to spend the day. “Those who came from Bariloche, for example, could not return because of the roadblock of Route 40 in Villa Mascardi,” sources from the municipality indicated.
Several medium-distance buses that transported passengers to Bariloche had to return to El Bolsón As a result of the cut, the local Municipality initiated a temporary reception procedure, until they can go through the interruption maintained by the self-styled Mapuche group Winkul Lafken Mapu in Villa Mascardi.
In the court, the hooded men attacked tourists with stones and intimidated them to prevent them from traveling along the national route, which was deserted by federal forces.
A few kilometers from there, members of the National Gendarmerie only interrupted the passage of the vehicles to prevent motorists from making contact with the protesters, although there were no measures to dismantle the cut.
“We are desperate. We came to spend the day in El Bolsón but we cannot return because of the cut. There are 5 kilometers of cars waiting to pass, ”said Estela Rinaldi, a tourist who is staying in Bariloche and was unable to return due to force.
Those affected complained about the absence of federal forces. “There is not a single gendarme to guarantee the circulation of vehicles on a route, which is national. They only placed some cones in the Villegas River, 40 kilometers from the cut, so that people do not join the line. It is unfortunate ”assured the affected motorists.
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