Over the weekend, Santiago Mayor Conservative Pablo Zalaquett made it clear that if the violence and destruction associated with student protests continues to escalate, intervention of Chile’s Armed Forces may be necessary.
Clashes between Chilean students and police continued in the capital Santiago, while government bureaucrats meet with student leaders to negotiate an end to the unrest which has rocked the capital for weeks.
Almost 300.000 sheep and 9.200 cattle are exposed to serious life risk following heavy snow storms which covered the Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile with a white blanket anywhere between 70 and 150 centimetres thick.
Chilean students organization with the support of unions have announced a new round of demonstrations while the conservative government of President Sebastián Piñera reported on Wednesday the arrest of over 400 hundred protesters as violence erupted on the streets of Chile's capital along with other cities, during marches demanding changes in public education.
Chilean riot police fired tear gas and used water cannons Tuesday to disperse violent protesters of an originally peaceful student demonstration that turned wild in the capital Santiago. Police said 273 protestors were detained and 23 police officers injured.
Early last week The Santiago Times reported that approval of President Sebastián Piñera had plummeted, according to a government evaluation survey by one of Chile’s leading polling firms, Adimark.
Following one of the most violent marches yet in the citizens’ movement for education reform, Chilean former and current government officials are sounding off against President Sebastián Piñera’s administration and its handling of the ongoing demands for national education reform.
Four districts in the Chilean extreme south region of Magallanes were declared in “agricultural emergency” given the harmful effects of snow storms in the area.
More than 550 people were arrested and 31 wounded in cities across Chile Thursday when police fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse student protesters calling for education reforms.
Protests carried out by students and teachers were suppressed Thursday by the Chilean police as over a dozen of roadblocks were set across Chile’s capital Santiago defying the government’s prohibition. Police suppressed demonstrators with tear gas and water.