SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Carabineros stand guard during a protest against the rise in metro fares near Plaza Italia on October 19, 2019 in Santiago, Chile. President Sebastian Pinera declared a state of emergency in several cities in Chile. (Photo by Pablo Rojas Madariaga/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
'So Awful': Military Returns to Streets in Chile as Unrest Simmers
The president's suspension of the public transporation fare hike has not stopped protests.
Oct 20, 2019
Demonstrators in Chile continued their "pots and pans" protests Sunday following a week of unrest that saw hundreds arrested and the military patrolling the streets for the first time in decades.
A curfew and state of emergency are still in effect in Santiago and several other cities, The Associated Press reported.
Video posted below from online outlet El Monstrador shows a protest Sunday in Santiago's Plaza Nunoa:
\u201cAHORA| Pese al estado de emergencia y la primera noche de toque de queda, las protestas ciudadanas no ceden y nuevamente este domingo se reactivaron los cacerolazos. Ac\u00e1, Plaza \u00d1u\u00f1oa\u201d— El Mostrador (@El Mostrador) 1571587925
The country's billionaire rightwing President Sebastian Pinera announced late Saturday that he was suspending a planned 4 percent increase in subway fares. That fare hike had prompted hundreds of young people on Monday to jump metro turnstiles and triggered protests in other cities in the country. But that may not have been the only catalyst. As The Guardian noted, the "latest protests follow grievances over the cost of living, specifically the costs of healthcare, education, and public services."
Reuters reported Saturday:
Fires continued to burn and looters were seen in flashpoints around the city of six million people where earlier police and military clashed with protesters. There was also significant unrest in the port city of Valparaiso, seat of Chile's Congress, where the government also declared military rule late on Saturday, and in the southern city of Concepcion.
"The center-right Pinera said he would invoke a special state security law to prosecute the 'criminals' responsible for the city-wide damage," Reuters reported.
According to Santiago Mayor Karla Rubilar Barahona, two people died from a fire in a supermarket in the San Bernardo area of the capital and a third person died after being taken to the hospital.
In addition to the curfew and state emergency, the government responded to the unrest by dispatching the military to city streets.
It marks the first time the army marched through the streets of Santiago, AP noted, since 1990, when the brutal dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who ousted Salvador Allende in a U.S.-backed coup, ended.
Another user shared video of soldiers in the city of Valparaiso:
\u201cIm\u00e1genes perturbadoras desde #Valpara\u00edso, ya bajo toque de queda. Es muy doloroso ver a #Chile con militares controlando todas las calles, mientras la poblaci\u00f3n muestra su hartazgo social. #ChileResiste\u201d— Erika Guevara Rosas (@Erika Guevara Rosas) 1571540942
The images, wrote Erika Guevara-Rosas, are "disturbing."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Demonstrators in Chile continued their "pots and pans" protests Sunday following a week of unrest that saw hundreds arrested and the military patrolling the streets for the first time in decades.
A curfew and state of emergency are still in effect in Santiago and several other cities, The Associated Press reported.
Video posted below from online outlet El Monstrador shows a protest Sunday in Santiago's Plaza Nunoa:
\u201cAHORA| Pese al estado de emergencia y la primera noche de toque de queda, las protestas ciudadanas no ceden y nuevamente este domingo se reactivaron los cacerolazos. Ac\u00e1, Plaza \u00d1u\u00f1oa\u201d— El Mostrador (@El Mostrador) 1571587925
The country's billionaire rightwing President Sebastian Pinera announced late Saturday that he was suspending a planned 4 percent increase in subway fares. That fare hike had prompted hundreds of young people on Monday to jump metro turnstiles and triggered protests in other cities in the country. But that may not have been the only catalyst. As The Guardian noted, the "latest protests follow grievances over the cost of living, specifically the costs of healthcare, education, and public services."
Reuters reported Saturday:
Fires continued to burn and looters were seen in flashpoints around the city of six million people where earlier police and military clashed with protesters. There was also significant unrest in the port city of Valparaiso, seat of Chile's Congress, where the government also declared military rule late on Saturday, and in the southern city of Concepcion.
"The center-right Pinera said he would invoke a special state security law to prosecute the 'criminals' responsible for the city-wide damage," Reuters reported.
According to Santiago Mayor Karla Rubilar Barahona, two people died from a fire in a supermarket in the San Bernardo area of the capital and a third person died after being taken to the hospital.
In addition to the curfew and state emergency, the government responded to the unrest by dispatching the military to city streets.
It marks the first time the army marched through the streets of Santiago, AP noted, since 1990, when the brutal dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who ousted Salvador Allende in a U.S.-backed coup, ended.
Another user shared video of soldiers in the city of Valparaiso:
\u201cIm\u00e1genes perturbadoras desde #Valpara\u00edso, ya bajo toque de queda. Es muy doloroso ver a #Chile con militares controlando todas las calles, mientras la poblaci\u00f3n muestra su hartazgo social. #ChileResiste\u201d— Erika Guevara Rosas (@Erika Guevara Rosas) 1571540942
The images, wrote Erika Guevara-Rosas, are "disturbing."
Demonstrators in Chile continued their "pots and pans" protests Sunday following a week of unrest that saw hundreds arrested and the military patrolling the streets for the first time in decades.
A curfew and state of emergency are still in effect in Santiago and several other cities, The Associated Press reported.
Video posted below from online outlet El Monstrador shows a protest Sunday in Santiago's Plaza Nunoa:
\u201cAHORA| Pese al estado de emergencia y la primera noche de toque de queda, las protestas ciudadanas no ceden y nuevamente este domingo se reactivaron los cacerolazos. Ac\u00e1, Plaza \u00d1u\u00f1oa\u201d— El Mostrador (@El Mostrador) 1571587925
The country's billionaire rightwing President Sebastian Pinera announced late Saturday that he was suspending a planned 4 percent increase in subway fares. That fare hike had prompted hundreds of young people on Monday to jump metro turnstiles and triggered protests in other cities in the country. But that may not have been the only catalyst. As The Guardian noted, the "latest protests follow grievances over the cost of living, specifically the costs of healthcare, education, and public services."
Reuters reported Saturday:
Fires continued to burn and looters were seen in flashpoints around the city of six million people where earlier police and military clashed with protesters. There was also significant unrest in the port city of Valparaiso, seat of Chile's Congress, where the government also declared military rule late on Saturday, and in the southern city of Concepcion.
"The center-right Pinera said he would invoke a special state security law to prosecute the 'criminals' responsible for the city-wide damage," Reuters reported.
According to Santiago Mayor Karla Rubilar Barahona, two people died from a fire in a supermarket in the San Bernardo area of the capital and a third person died after being taken to the hospital.
In addition to the curfew and state emergency, the government responded to the unrest by dispatching the military to city streets.
It marks the first time the army marched through the streets of Santiago, AP noted, since 1990, when the brutal dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who ousted Salvador Allende in a U.S.-backed coup, ended.
Another user shared video of soldiers in the city of Valparaiso:
\u201cIm\u00e1genes perturbadoras desde #Valpara\u00edso, ya bajo toque de queda. Es muy doloroso ver a #Chile con militares controlando todas las calles, mientras la poblaci\u00f3n muestra su hartazgo social. #ChileResiste\u201d— Erika Guevara Rosas (@Erika Guevara Rosas) 1571540942
The images, wrote Erika Guevara-Rosas, are "disturbing."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.