Students seeking a free public university education clashed with police in downtown Santiago on Wednesday on the second day of roiling street protests for education reform involving about 25,000 people.
As with other recent demonstrations, the protests degenerated into violence when hundreds of masked demonstrators began to throw stones and Molotov cocktails at police at the end of the event and attacked a gas station. They also erected barricades and set tires ablaze.
Chilean police — also true to form with their response to earlier violence this week — answered with tear gas and water cannons.
Photo: Reuters
At least 373 people have been arrested since early on Tuesday throughout the country during similar brief, but violent clashes. In the suburbs of La Pincoya and Reina, eight police officers were injured and 10 people were arrested, police officials said.
A Spanish TV cameraman and a Chilean television assistant were hurt by rocks thrown by protesters.
Youth-led protests began to be seen in the Chilean capital in May, but they have been on a hiatus for several weeks. The relaunch of the demonstrations comes after talks between the government and student leaders broke down.
Photo: AFP
The Chilean Students Confederation called for two days of protests with the backing of about 70 other organizations, including the country’s largest labor confederation and a teachers’ group.
The government denounced the violence and the destruction of private and public property, saying it would impose strict new security measures after protesters burned a bus.
The students should “find another way to express their views that doesn’t involve violence and destruction, which does nothing to advance the dialogue,” Chilean Deputy Interior Minister Rodrigo Ubilla said.
However, the head of the student group insisted that the protests were peaceful for the most part and blamed the unrest on a relatively small band of disaffected rowdies.
“Violence doesn’t help anyone, it hurts us,” said Camilo Ballesteros, who criticized the government “for its inability to identify the small group” of troublemakers that he said was responsible for the unrest.
Amid dozens of demonstrations in recent months, 1,567 people have been arrested, 348 charged and 12 detained, Santiago Provincial Governor Cecilia Perez said.
The latest student upheaval also coincides with youth-led “Occupy Wall Street” protests in New York and other major cities across the globe.
Students said they have rejected further negotiations with the government because it had not moved toward their demands for free public education from grade school through university.
At the moment, only about 40 percent of students qualify for free education based on parents’ income.
Classes have been on hold for months in many schools and universities during the demonstrations, which routinely draw tens of thousands of students onto the streets.
The government has said the students are radicals with whom it has been futile to negotiate.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was