‘Fed up’ citizens fill plazas in weeklong social justice protest
SANTIAGO: Thousands filled Santiago plazas and major thoroughfares, waving banners and chanting in a seventh day of protests that have rocked Chile. Elsewhere in the city, a semblance of normality returned as more stores and schools reopened.
In largely peaceful demonstrations on Thursday, people danced, sang and waved an eclectic mix of indigenous, sporting and national flags and signs with the motto ‘Chile Woke Up.’ It’s all part of the biggest civil unrest since Chile returned to democracy in 1990, as people push for better pay, pensions, health care, education and social justice.
“The cost of living keeps going up and wages are miserable,” said Adela Tinajo, 53, a domestic worker who earns minimum wage, as she beat a saucepan lid on a street corner in northern Santiago. “The rich keep getting richer and don’t pay taxes. We’re fed up.”
Earlier, television images showed the full extent of damage from subway riots that triggered the protests, while cases of looting were still being reported.
Operations at copper mines and major ports continue to be disrupted by strikes, as workers joined public sector, health and teachers’ unions demanding the army be sent back to its barracks. Markets were mixed, with stocks rebounding but the peso down.
President Sebastian Pinera’s government continued to tout measures announced earlier in the week in a bid to quell the unrest, such as raising taxes for high income earners, lifting basic pensions and stabilising power prices.
For many protesters, though, the measures fall short. They’re calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops and cabinet changes.
“We need better everything, but especially better healthcare,” said Liz Castro, who was banging a pot on the streets of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, one of Santiago’s poorest neighbourhoods, on Wednesday. “In our medical centres here there are no doctors, no equipment and no medicine.”
The government has reported 18 deaths and thousands of arrests with more then 600 hundred supermarkets and at least one hotel looted, although the rate of serious violent events has slowed. Chile’s human rights institute says five died in clashes with police or soldiers, and is also investigating reports of abuses such as strip searches and beatings.
The government initially tackled the violence as a law-and-order matter, an approach that only made things worse. On Tuesday, Mr Pinera apologised for having failed to recognize the genuine grievances behind the protests.
Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, now the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she would send a team to look into allegations of rights violations, a move the government welcomed.
In a survey by pollster Ipsos, 67% said the protests started because “people are tired of their living conditions when it comes to the economy, health and pensions, as they are perceived as unfair and unjust.”