July 11, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1423

SANTIAGO, July 10: Police herded hundreds of angry protesters out of the Chilean senate, as it received former dictator Augusto Pinochet’s letter of resignation on Tuesday, after a supreme court ruling that he was mentally unfit to stand trial for the “Caravan of Death.”

A son of the ex-dictator, Marco Antonio Pinochet Hiriart, announced on Thursday, after the high court ruling, that his father, 86, would be giving up the seat he has held as “Senator for Life” since March 1998.

Communist Party members led by party secretary general Gladys Marin, hurled coins toward the Senate seats Tuesday as lawmakers readied to review the letter containing Pinochet’s resignation.

Socialist lawmaker Fidel Espinoza raised a sign reading “Pinochet killed my father.”

There had been much speculation about the contents of the letter, which was expected to justify both the coup that heralded Pinochet’s 17 years of hard line rule and his 1973-1990 dictatorship. But amid the tense atmosphere and demonstrations, it was not read in the senate session as expected.

Demonstrators shouted “murderer, murderer” as senate speaker Andres Zaldivar ordered authorities to clear out the protesters.—AFP