Chile enacts laws, allots $1.5 billion to fight crime amid police killings

FILE PHOTO: A demonstrator prepares to throw a molotov bomb toward riot police vehicles during a protest commemorating "El dia del joven combatiente" (Day of the Young Combatant) in Santiago, Chile March 29, 2023. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado/File Photo

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile on Thursday signed new laws and allocated $1.5 billion to fight crime amid skyrocketing perceptions of insecurity and a day after the third police officer in less than a month was killed on duty.

"When it comes to fighting crime and backing Carabineros (police force), there are now fissures in the Chilean state," President Gabriel Boric said from La Moneda presidential palace.