MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean students and teachers defy ban and take to the streets to protest

Students clash with police in downtown Santiago

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.

Over a thousand policemen where displaced to central Santiago to repress the protests. Students organized a sit in and chanted the words: “We behave, we behave”, to show the peaceful character of the demonstration.

Incidents were reported on several locations close to educational institutions and included roadblocks on Santiago’s main avenue Alameda Bernardo O'Higgins all the way to the government house, La Moneda.

Similar demonstrations emerged in cities such as Valparaíso, Concepción, Valdivia, Iquique and Quilpué. For this afternoon, more protests were announced by students and teachers’ federations as an answer to the government’s proposal to solve the impasse is expected by Friday.

Amongst the students demands are the constitutional right to quality public education free of charges. According to the students, the proposal presented by the government lacks consistency and is considered “ambiguous”.

On Wednesday a meeting between students and Interior minister, Rodrigo Hinzpeter ended without breakthroughs.

Also on Wednesday President Sebastian Piñera expressed his discontentment with the situation by saying that “everything has a limit” and lamenting the “over 60 million hours of class lost because of the of the students’ rallies.”