Pacific / Easter Island

Courthouse torched, police assaulted during Rapa Nui unrest

14:38 pm on 31 January 2019

Reports from Chile say there have been serious disturbances on Rapa Nui after a family tried to lynch a homicide suspect.

An angry mob torches the courthouse on Rapanui. Photo: Latercera Online

The news site Ahora Noticias reports that police were assaulted and injured, and a court building and a registry office in Hanga Roa were torched by the victim's relatives.

Police had arrested a 51-year-old man accused of killing a 34-old-man with a knife.

The victim's family then attacked the police vehicle with the suspect in it and set fire to the buildings.