Chile president gives staunch defence of democracy, 50 years after Pinochet coup

Gabriel Boric makes speech outside palace where Salvador Allende was overthrown in 1973, ushering in brutal military dictatorship

• It became an obsession': the long search for the remains of Pinochet's victims

Chile's president has given an outspoken defence of democracy as the country marked the 50th anniversary of General Augusto Pinochet's coup d'etat, which ushered in 17 years of brutal military dictatorship.

Problems with democracy can always be solved ... and a coup d'etat is never justifiable - nor is endangering the human rights of those who think differently," said Gabriel Boric in a speech outside La Moneda, the presidential palace bombed by British-built Hawker Hunter jets during the 1973 coup.