Thousands of protesters armed with stones, sticks and Molotov cocktails clashed with police on Sunday as one of Latin America's biggest music festival opened, in the latest spurt of a four-month-old wave of grassroots anger over economic inequality and other woes.
Good news and bad news for the tourism industry of Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile. The good news is that this Friday some 3.150 cruise visitors are expected to land in the city, they are passengers from the Norwegian Star and the Viking Jupiter, each contributing with 2.348 and 800 pax.
Chilean lawmakers agreed late on Wednesday to fast-track reforms to beef up security, warning that a resurgence in violence and vandalism was threatening to derail the country’s 30-year-old democracy.
Around 75,000 people took to the streets in Santiago on Friday as part of ongoing anti-government protests in Chile. Local press reported the mostly peaceful demonstration as the second-largest since the protests broke out three weeks ago.
Chile's president said on Wednesday his government had “nothing to hide” concerning allegations that police killed, tortured and sexually assaulted civilians during deadly protests against him. Prosecutors say five of the 20 deaths recorded in the protests against high living costs were suspected to have been at the hands of security forces.