In Santiago, Chile, thousands take to the streets against a rise in metro fares. The government turns to the military: it hasn't happened since the Pinochet era.
Update 22 October – The latest figures from Chilean authorities report 11 deaths during the weekend's protests. The government has also made a statement regarding Cop 25, which is due to take place next December, clarifying that there will be no organisational problems and that it will proceed as scheduled in Santiago.
After Ecuador, it is Chile's turn. The Latin American nation has been gripped by violent protests, prompting president Sebastian Piñera to declare a state of emergency in the capital Santiago. The first serious clashes between protesters and security forces were recorded on Friday, particularly near the government headquarters and in the southern outskirts of the city.
The population has taken to the streets to protest against a rise in metro fares. The government had proposed increasing the ticket price from 800 to 830 pesos (€1.04) for journeys made during peak hours — this following a rise of 20 pesos already imposed last January.
It comes as no surprise, then, that metro stations were among the main targets of protesters, with 78 of them looted. Dozens of supermarkets, cars and petrol stations were also damaged or set alight. The same fate befell a building belonging to Italian energy company Enel and a branch of Banco Chile. At Santiago airport, meanwhile, hundreds of people spent the night waiting to depart, as numerous flights were cancelled.
As a result, from Saturday onwards military personnel were called in to patrol the cities — the first time this has happened since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Even so, the toll from the weekend of protests is dramatic: three confirmed deaths. These are in addition to numerous injured, including 156 police officers. 308 people have been arrested.
The state of emergency in Santiago — a city that in less than six weeks is due to host Cop 25, the United Nations world climate conference — will last for two weeks. A curfew has also been declared in the city: no one may move around without authorisation between 9pm and 7am.
On Saturday, in an attempt to calm the protests, Piñera decided to suspend the rise in metro fares. But the social crisis appears to have now fully erupted in Chile. The demands of protesters have shifted, more broadly, to the issue of inequality — and to a rejection of an economic model that has left healthcare and education almost entirely in the hands of the private sector.
The president stated his intention to launch a "broad and cross-cutting" dialogue, with the declared aim of responding to society's demands. At the same time, he labelled the protesters criminals: "The desire to smash everything is not a form of protest, it is a crime," he said in an interview on a radio station.
