LONDON -- Pro- and anti-Pinochet supporters stepped up pressure on Britain on Tuesday before a decision on the possible extradition of the former Chilean dictator, wanted in Spain on charges of torture and genocide.
A group of 100 widows and relatives of Chilean policeman and soldiers killed during Chile's 1973 military coup and subsequent unrest were going to Downing Street to deliver a petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair's office calling on Britain to send Pinochet home.They said that 200,000 Chilean citizens had signed the petition, asking Britain to "help protect the process of peace and reconciliation in Chile."
Meanwhile, groups of Chilean exiles and relatives of some of the thousands who disappeared under Pinochet's rule have kept up their pressure by holding demonstrations and vigils outside British government buildings in London.
Pinochet, 83, was arrested in London on Oct. 16 on a warrant from Spain charging him with responsibility in the deaths or disappearances of more than 3,000 people during his 1973-1990 rule in Chile.
Britain's House of Lords -- the highest court in the land -- ruled last month that he did not enjoy immunity from prosecution.