Renewed disturbances in Chile; many line up for food

SANTIAGO (AP) — Protesters defied an emergency decree and confronted police in Chile’s capital Monday, continuing disturbances that have left at least 11 dead and led the president to say the country is “at war.”

Police used tear gas and streams of water to break up a march by hundreds of students and union members on one of Santiago’s main streets, but demonstrators who at first dispersed later reformed elsewhere.

Meanwhile, police and soldiers guarded Chileans who formed long lines outside supermarkets before they reopened after many closed during a weekend during which dozens of stores were looted or burned.

Only one of the city’s six subway lines was operating because rioters had burned or damaged many of the stations, and officials said it could take weeks or months to fully restore service.

Some 2 million students were forced to stay home from classes and many people were unable to reach jobs.

Conservative President Sebastian Pinera said Sunday night that the country is “at war with a powerful, relentless enemy that respects nothing or anyone and is willing to use violence and crime without any limits.”

He did not identify a specific enemy.

His predecessor as president, Michelle Bachelet, issued a statement calling for dialogue and urging all sides to work “toward solutions that contribute to calming the situation.”

Now the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Bachelet called for an investigation into all acts, by government or protesters,” that have caused injuries and death.”

The protests have shaken a nation noted for economic stability over the past decades, which has seen steadily declining poverty despite persistent high rates of inequality.

The unrest was triggered by a relatively minor increase in subway fares of less than 4 percent, but analysts said the protests are fed by frustration from a long-building sense of many Chileans that they are not sharing in the nation’s advances.

“I’m protesting for my daughter, for my wife, for my mother, not just for the 30 pesos of the Metro — for the low salaries, for the privileges of the political class, for their millionaire salaries,” said Andres Abregu, an Uber driver who complained he is still paying a student debt and cannot provide a decent life for his family.