Almost one million protesters took to the streets of Chile yesterday and stayed through the night in the biggest demonstrations since violence broke out in the capital a week ago.
So far at least 18 people have been killed, hundreds wounded, and millions of dollars worth of damage has been caused.
Demonstrators waving national flags, blowing whistles and horns, wafting incense and bearing placards urging political and social change streamed through the streets, walking for miles from around Santiago to converge on Plaza Italia.
The scenes were replicated in cities around the country.
Almost one million protesters took to the streets of Chile yesterday and stayed through the night in the biggest demonstrations since violence broke out in the capital a week ago
So far at least 18 people have been killed, hundreds wounded, and millions of dollars worth of damage has been caused. Pictured is a demonstrator being arrested
A police water cannon is deployed on a demonstrator during a protest against Chile’s state economic model in Santiago
Thousands of people are seen protesting in Santiago as week after violent protests and riots started
Traffic ground to a standstill in Santiago as truck and taxi drivers added their own protest over road tolls and public transport shut down early ahead of marches that grew throughout the afternoon.
Santiago governor, Karla Rubilar, said almost a million people marched in the capital – more than five percent of the country’s population.
‘Today is a historic day,’ Rubilar wrote on Twitter. ‘The Metropolitan Region is host to a peaceful march of almost one million people who represent a dream for a new Chile.’
Clotilde Soto, an 82-year-old retired teacher, said she was marching because she did not want to die without seeing change.
‘Above all we need better salaries and better pensions, she said.
Protests that started over a hike in public transport fares boiled into riots, arson and looting that have killed at least 18 people, injured hundreds, brought more than 7,000 arrests and caused more than $1.4billion of losses to Chilean businesses.
Demonstrators waving national flags, blowing whistles and horns, wafting incense and bearing placards urging political and social change streamed through the streets, walking for miles from around Santiago to converge on Plaza Italia
Demonstrators gather in front of a subway entrance blocked by burning debris during a protest which started as a reaction to a rise in public transport fares
An anti-government protester returns a tear gas canister to police during clashes in Valparaiso. A new round of clashes broke out Friday as demonstrators returned to the streets, dissatisfied with economic concessions announced by the government in a bid to curb a week of deadly violence
Aerial view of people demonstrating with a torn Chilean national flag in Santiago. Traffic ground to a standstill in Santiago as truck and taxi drivers added their own protest over road tolls and public transport shut down early ahead of marches that grew throughout the afternoon
A masked demonstrator holds a pot depicting Chilean President sebastian Pinera reading ‘Hit him hard’ in Santiago
Chile’s military has taken over security in Santiago, a city of six million people now under a state of emergency with night-time curfews.
On Friday morning, trucks, cars and taxis had slowed to a crawl on major roads, honking horns and waving Chilean flags.
‘No more tolls! Enough with the abuse!’ read bright yellow-and-red signs plastered to the front of vehicles.
Chile’s unrest is the latest in a flare-up of protests in South America and round the world – from Beirut to Barcelona – each with local triggers but also sharing underlying anger at social disparities and ruling elites.
Chile’s military has taken over security in Santiago, a city of six million people now under a state of emergency with night-time curfews. Demonstrators gather near bonfires in Santiago
Chile’s unrest is the latest in a flare-up of protests in South America and round the world – from Beirut to Barcelona – each with local triggers but also sharing underlying anger at social disparities and ruling elites
Thousands of people took to the streets of Santiago. Demonstrations against a hike in metro ticket prices in Chile’s capital exploded into violence on October 18, unleashing widening protests over living costs and social inequality
A demonstrator reacts amid tear gas and police water cannon deployed during a protest against Chile’s state economic model in Santiago
A police water cannon is deployed on demonstrators during a protest against Chile’s state economic model in Santiago
On Friday morning, trucks, cars and taxis had slowed to a crawl on major roads, honking horns and waving Chilean flags. ‘No more tolls! Enough with the abuse!’ read bright yellow-and-red signs plastered to the front of vehicles
Chile’s two-term President Sebastian Pinera trounced the opposition in the most recent 2017 election, dealing the center-left ruling coalition its biggest loss since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990.
But now many protest placards and graffiti scrawled on buildings around the city call for his exit.
As crowds of colorful demonstrators stretched along Santiago’s thoroughfares as far as the eye could see, the noise of pots and pans being clanged with spoons, a clamor that has become the soundtrack for the popular uprising, was ear-splitting.
‘The people, united, will never be defeated,’ the crowds chanted over the din.
By early evening there had been no signs of violence or clashes with the security forces, who maintained a significant but low-key presence inside paint-spattered and stone-dented armored vehicles parked in side streets.
Demonstrators clash with the riot police during the eighth day of protests against President Sebastian Pinera’s government
Chile’s two-term President Sebastian Pinera trounced the opposition in the most recent 2017 election, dealing the center-left ruling coalition its biggest loss since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990
An anti-government protester covers his face with a Chilean flag as police launch tear gas during a protest march in Santiago, Chile
A demonstrator runs away from a fire during the eighth day of protests. Chile’s two-term President Sebastian Pinera trounced the opposition in the most recent 2017 election, dealing the center-left ruling coalition its biggest loss since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990
Protesters make fire near Plaza Italia on the seventh day of anti-government protests in Santiago. Beatriz Demur, 42, a yoga teacher from the suburb of Barrio Brazil, joined a stream of demonstrators shuffling toward Plaza Italia with her daughter Tabatha, 22. ‘We want Chile to be a better place,’ said Demur. ‘The most powerful have privatized everything. It’s been that way for 30 years’
A demonstrator receives assistance from fellow demonstrators after falling over in Santiago
Beatriz Demur, 42, a yoga teacher from the suburb of Barrio Brazil, joined a stream of demonstrators shuffling toward Plaza Italia with her daughter Tabatha, 22.
‘We want Chile to be a better place,’ said Demur. ‘The most powerful have privatized everything. It’s been that way for 30 years.’
Eyeing the crowds packing the square, her daughter said: ‘I have waited for this a long time … It’s not scary, it’s exciting. It means change.’
Anali Parra, 26, a street vendor, was with her daughter Catalina, 9, and five-month-old son Gideon Jesus, his buggy decked in streamers and a flag of the indigenous Mapuche flag.
‘This isn’t going to go away,’ Parra said. ‘Pinera should just go now.’
Many bus drivers in Santiago also staged a walk-off on Friday after one of their number was shot.
Demonstrators stand next to a burning barricade during anti-government protests, in Concepcion, Chile
An online poll conducted by local company Activa Research of 2,090 people on October 23 found 83 per cent of respondents said they supported the goals of the demonstrators, but 72.5 per cent opposed violence as a method of protest
While much of wealthy east Santiago has remained calm under evening lockdown, the poorer side of the city has seen widespread vandalism and looting.
Pinera, a billionaire businessman, told the nation on Thursday he had heard the demands of Chileans ‘loud and clear.’
He has sent lawmakers legislation to overturn a recent hike in electricity rates, and called for reforms to guarantee a minimum wage of $480 a month and introduce state medical insurance for catastrophes.
Seated with a group of elderly Chileans over lunch on Friday, Pinera put finishing touches on a bill to hike minimum pensions by 20 per cent. ‘We must approve these projects with the urgency that Chileans demand,’ Pinera said.
An online poll conducted by local company Activa Research of 2,090 people on October 23 found 83 per cent of respondents said they supported the goals of the demonstrators, but 72.5 per cent opposed violence as a method of protest.
The principal causes of the protests were low salaries, high utility prices, poor pensions and economic inequality, it said.